The Big Ten Conference amassed nearly $70 million from NCAA distributions that will be paid for team appearances and performances in the 2026 men’s and women’s basketball tournaments.

That is by far the most among conferences, largely because the Big Ten swept the national championships — Michigan won the men’s and UCLA the women’s — and had Illinois‘ men’s team advance to the Final Four.

The NCAA, which has multibillion-dollar broadcast deals for the two tournaments, since 1991 has rewarded conferences for their number of tournament bids and how far those teams advance in the men’s tournament. A similar system for the women’s tournament began in 2025.

For this year’s tournaments, nine men’s teams and 12 women’s teams from the Big Ten combined to make at least $69.4 million, with $63 million coming from the men’s side.

The Southeastern Conference, which had 10 teams in each tournament, totaled at least $56.2 million ($50.4 million for men, $5.8 million for women). Other distributions will total at least $42.9 million for the Big 12, $34.2 million for the Atlantic Coast Conference and $22.2 million for the Big East.

The NCAA sends payments directly to the conferences, which distribute the money among their teams according to their policies. Payments for the 2026 tournament will begin in April 2027.

Teams in each tournament earn what’s known as a “unit” for making the field of 68 and an additional unit for each round in which it appears. The national champion is awarded an extra unit. The value of a unit increases each year. A portion of revenue from the tournaments’ broadcast agreements are directed to distribution payments — 24% for the men and 41% for the women.

The estimated value of a unit for the 2026 men’s tournament will be about $350,000, an NCAA spokeswoman said, and that amount will be paid annually for six years. A single unit earned in 2026 would have a total value of at least $2.1 million over those six years and probably more because Division I distribution funds — including the basketball funds — are scheduled to increase each year, typically by 2.9%.

For the women’s tournament, full funding for units earned will be achieved in 2027. Payments for each unit earned will be made for three years rather than six. The unit value was $75,000 for 2026 and will decrease to about $63,000 next year as part of the NCAA’s formula for getting the fund fully up and running. Using $63,000 as an estimate for the 2028 value, a single unit earned in 2026 would be worth at least $201,000 by the time it is paid off over three years.

The Big Ten’s nine teams in the men’s tournament appeared in 29 games. Michigan earned $14.7 million for the conference by playing in six games and receiving a seventh unit for winning the championship. Illinois earned five units for making the Final Four ($10.5 million) and Iowa and Purdue four apiece for reaching the Elite Eight ($8.4 million each).

The Big Ten landed 12 teams in the women’s tournament, and they combined to play in 31 games. UCLA earned just over $1.4 million by playing in six games and receiving an extra unit for winning the championship. Michigan‘s four games earned $804,000 and Minnesota‘s three earned $603,000.

The championships in men’s and women’s basketball continued what has been a banner 2025-26 for the Big Ten. Indiana won the conference’s third straight College Football Playoff, and other national championships have been won in men’s wrestling (Penn State), women’s ice hockey (Wisconsin), men’s water polo (UCLA), men’s soccer (Washington) and field hockey (Northwestern).

Super Bowl champion LeSean McCoy took to the defense of New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel and New York Times/The Athletic NFL reporter Dianna Russini.

Photos originally published by the New York Post’s Page Six showed the coach and journalist holding hands, hugging and sitting in a pool in bathing suits at a resort bungalow in Sedona, Arizona. While a lot of people have been highly critical of Vrabel and Russini, McCoy took no issue with it.

“I like Mike, I love Mike. I mind my business. They work together,” McCoy told TMZ Sports.

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“Everybody makes something big out of everything. He’s a big-time coach, he’s a big-time player. He was just in the Super Bowl, they got something to talk about. That’s what happened.”

“I ain’t see nothing wrong with it.”

Both Vrabel and Russini are married, and both denied any wrongdoing. Vrabel married his wife, Jen, in 1999, and they have two sons together. The 50-year-old coach said the interaction was completely innocent.

“These photos show a completely innocent interaction and any suggestion otherwise is laughable,” Vrabel told the New York Post. “This doesn’t deserve any further response.”

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New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel watches during the first half of the AFC Championship NFL football game against the Denver Broncos, Sunday, Jan. 25, 2026, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Russini, who married her husband Kevin Goldschmidt in 2020 and they have two sons together, said the photos misrepresented what actually occurred.

“The photos don’t represent the group of six people who were hanging out during the day. Like most journalists in the NFL, reporters interact with sources away from stadiums and other venues,” Russini told the New York Post.

Vrabel took the Patriots to the Super Bowl in his first season as the Patriots head coach and won NFL Coach of the Year for the second time in his career.

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Dianna Russini attends the 2026 Fanatics Super Bowl Party at Pier 48 in San Francisco, California, on Feb. 7, 2026. (Cindy Ord/Getty Images)

Russini, 43, joined the The Athletic in 2023, leaving ESPN after over eight years.

McCoy played 12 seasons in the NFL. He spent six with the Philadelphia Eagles, four seasons with the Buffalo Bills, one with the Kansas City Chiefs, and one with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

The 37-year-old won a Super Bowl with the Chiefs in 2019 and the Buccaneers in 2020. In 170 games, McCoy ran for 11,102 yards with 73 touchdowns, while catching 518 passes for 3,898 yards and 16 touchdowns.

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Not everybody representing the red, white and blue sounded necessarily ecstatic about doing so in the Olympics.

Freeskier Hunter Hess said he had “mixed emotions” representing the U.S. in Milan, while skier Mikaela Shiffrin said she wanted to represent her own “values” in Milan, and it was “tough to reconcile” violence in America while “competing for medals at an Olympic event.”

But for two-time gold medalist Jordan Stolz, there were no problems.

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In a recent interview with Fox News Digital, the speedskater who won gold twice in Italy, Stolz said he paid no mind to any other athletes’ comments.

“I didn’t really pay attention to it, but I’m always happy to represent the USA,” Stolz said.

“I think we’re the best country.”

It was not just winter Olympians who shared unease about representing the United States on the grandest stage. In an interview with Fox News Digital months before the 2024 Summer Olympics, Noah Lyles said representing the U.S. was “bittersweet” and came with a “heavy heart,” saying Black people in America have “a lot to deal with.”

Noah Lyles of the United States poses after winning the gold medal in the men’s 200 meters final at the World Athletics Championships. The event took place in Tokyo on Sept. 19, 2025. (Matthias Schrader/AP)

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Hess said it was “a little hard” to represent the United States, because “there’s obviously a lot going on that I’m not the biggest fan of, and I think a lot of people aren’t.” Those comments prompted President Donald Trump to call him a “real loser.”

“Just because I’m wearing the flag doesn’t mean I represent everything that’s going on in the U.S. I just kind of want to do it for my friends and my family and the people that support me getting here,” Hess said in February.

Shriffin said, “I think there’s a lot of hardship in the world globally, and there’s a lot of heartbreak. There’s a lot of violence. It can be tough to reconcile that when you’re also competing for medals at an Olympic event.”

Ahead of the World Baseball Classic, Bryce Harper, who played for Team USA, said it was “crazy” to not fully embrace wearing the Stars and Stripes.

United States Bryce Harper celebrates after hitting a two-run home run during the eighth inning in the championship game of the World Baseball Classic against Venezuela, Tuesday, March 17, 2026, in Miami. (Lynne Sladky/AP)

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The Philadelphia Phillies first baseman said no matter where one may stand politically, it is always the greatest honor to represent the United States.

“Obviously, there’s things that are going on in the country that, you know, aren’t good or people don’t believe in or whatever, right? Politics aside, for me, when you’re going and representing your country, you’re representing your country, man. Like, block all that out. It’s sports.

“We want to put something on the TV that is happy and good and just great for everybody to watch, right? So, representing your country, there’s nothing greater than representing your country. There’s really nothing at all.

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