April 5, 2025: Former NCAA President Cedric Dempsey dies. His nine years at the helm of the Association were a time of transition and growth, marked by the move of the national office to Indianapolis, the organization’s restructuring and landmark television agreements. April 5, 2025 29
Jan. 15, 2025: Division I establishes a revenue distribution structure for women’s basketball that is similar to that of the men’s tournament. Teams participating and advancing in the Division I Women’s Basketball Championship will earn financial rewards for their conferences, with the value of the revenue distribution funds increasing to $25 million over three years. January 15, 2025 25
Oct. 27, 2023: The NIT Board of Managers announces changes for the 2024 National Invitation Tournament that impact how teams qualify. For the 2024 NIT, conference regular-season champions that do not win their conference tournament or are not otherwise selected to the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship will not receive an automatic bid to the NIT. Instead, the NIT will guarantee two teams (based on the NET rankings) from each of six conferences (Atlantic Coast, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and Southeastern). October 27, 2023 27
Oct. 15, 2023: The Iowa women’s basketball team opens the 2023-24 season with a 94-72 victory in its exhibition game with DePaul at Kinnick Stadium in front of 55,646 fans, setting an NCAA single-game record for women’s basketball attendance. The Crossover at Kinnick was also the first women’s basketball game to be played outdoors in a football stadium. All net proceeds from the event benefited The University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital. October 15, 2023 22
July 17, 2023: The NCAA announces the creation of the Women’s Basketball Invitation Tournament. The 32-team postseason tournament, which will be owned and funded by the NCAA, will be held annually beginning in 2024. With the addition of the WBIT, 100 postseason NCAA-funded opportunities will be available for Division I women’s basketball teams, equal to that of men’s basketball through its two events (the 68-team championship and 32-team National Invitation Tournament). July 17, 2023 21
March 12, 2020: The Division I Men’s Basketball Championship, which had been played every year since 1939, and the Division I Women’s Basketball Championship are canceled for the first time by the NCAA Board of Governors due to the COVID-19 pandemic. All 2020 NCAA winter and spring sports are canceled, as well. March 12, 2020 23
April 12, 2016: The NCAA announces an eight-year, $8.8 billion extension of its multimedia rights agreement with CBS Sports and Turner, a division of Time Warner, for the Division I Men’s Basketball Championship. The new contract extends the agreement through 2032. April 12, 2016 25
April 5, 2016: Coach Geno Auriemma leads UConn to an 82-51 win over Syracuse in the Women’s Final Four to capture the program’s fourth consecutive NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Championship. The victory is also Auriemma’s 11th overall national title, which is the most in NCAA basketball, breaking the mark of John Wooden, who led the UCLA men’s team to 10 NCAA championships. April 5, 2016 23
2010: The reach and visibility of the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship expands with the announcement of a new 14-year, $10.8 billion television, Internet and wireless rights agreement with CBS Sports and Turner Broadcasting System. April 22, 2010 22
April 6, 2009: An NCAA Division I men’s basketball tournament record crowd of 72,922 attends the championship game of the Men’s Final Four at Ford Field in Detroit. North Carolina defeats Michigan State 89-72 to win the national championship. The attendance for the national semifinals two days earlier was 72,456. April 6, 2009 21
