Fisk University, located in Nashville, Tennessee, reported spending $427,579 on its women’s basketball teams in 2024, according to data from the U.S. Department of Education. This figure is $621,953 below the average expenditure for women’s basketball programs in the state, which is $1,049,532.
The reported spending on women’s basketball accounted for 21.5% of Fisk University’s total sports expenses in 2024.
Since 2010, the university’s total athletics spending has risen by 3,320.3%.
Alongside football, basketball remains one of the top college sports in the United States, with leading NCAA teams attracting sizeable fan bases and television viewership numbers that often rival NBA games. Annual tournaments such as March Madness consistently draw millions of viewers.
Recent changes in college athletics now allow schools to directly share revenue with players, following a federal settlement that also mandates $2.8 billion in back damages over the next 10 years to athletes who competed from 2016 onward.
In 2022, after a prolonged period of legal and legislative debate, college athletes gained the ability to earn money from their names, images and likenesses through new state regulations and updated NCAA policy.
The NCAA reported nearly $900 million in fiscal year 2024 revenue generated by media rights for March Madness and the Division I men’s basketball tournament, making basketball the organization’s primary income source.
| Year | Basketball team’s expenditures | % from grand total sport team expenditures |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | $187,050 | 23.2% |
| 2022 | $223,689 | 23% |
| 2023 | $318,768 | 19% |
| 2024 | $427,579 | 21.5% |
Information for this article was sourced from the U.S. Department of Education. The original data is available here.
