In a move to help close the pay gap between men and women in college sports, the NCAA will now pay Division I women's basketball teams who play in March Madness games starting this year.

The organization approved “performance units” for women’s teams participating in March Madness after years of only paying men’s programs.

Women's basketball teams finally will be paid for playing games in the NCAA Tournament each March just like the men have for years under a plan approved Wednesday at the NCAA convention. The unanimous vote by NCAA membership was met by a round of applause both inside the ballroom and around the sport.

NCAA members unanimously voted to introduce financial rewards — as it has for years with the men's tournament — starting this spring.

Starting with the 2025 NCAA Tournament, women's college basketball teams will earn financial 'units' for their appearances and performance in March Madness. Thi

In a historic vote Wednesday at the NCAA convention in Nashville, the organization approved a plan to pay women's basketball teams for making the NCAA Tournament. Men's basketball teams have been reaping the benefits of the same revenue sharing plan for many years.

Life is wild. Here we are, a quarter of the way into the 21st century and more than 52 years after Title IX was signed into law, learning that there was a big round of self-congratulatory applause in a Nashville ballroom this week because the NCAA finally did what it should have done years ago.