# NCAA basketball tournament payoffs **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 6, 2001, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ncaa-basketball-tournament-payoffs/56944 "2001-03-06T15:57:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jcgmoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a9adbd/32.png) [@jcgmoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jcgmoi)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2001, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ncaa-basketball-tournament-payoffs/56944/1 "2001-03-06T15:57:05Z")
I heard today on the radio that each team gets $250,000 for an opening round game. Is this figure correct? Do winning teams get more than losers? What are the payoffs for the remaining rounds? ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2001, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ncaa-basketball-tournament-payoffs/56944/2 "2001-03-06T16:48:46Z")
The figure sounds right. And the more games you win, the more money the school makes. I don’t know the figures – the NCAA and the colleges don’t like to talke about them – but they can be very substantial. One reason why colleges want winning teams. Here’s some (out of date) information about what the final four got: [http://www.sportsline.com/u/madness/1998/history/numbers/dollars.htm](http://www.sportsline.com/u/madness/1998/history/numbers/dollars.htm) ---
**Author:** ![jcgmoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a9adbd/32.png) [@jcgmoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jcgmoi)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2001, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ncaa-basketball-tournament-payoffs/56944/3 "2001-03-07T13:20:53Z")
OK, I should have typed **payouts** , not **payoffs**. Still, someone out there knows the answer.