Still, the tournament receives a smaller amount of funding from broadcast rights (which are held by ESPN, and are pooled with those of other NCAA Division I championships besides golf and men's basketball) and sponsorship (which are sold by CBS and Turner Sports) than the men's tournament.

On March 1, 2011, Bowling Green State University's director of intercollegiate athletics, Greg Christopher, was appointed chair of the NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Committee during the 2011–12 academic year.

In 1996, seeds were assigned on a national basis using an "S-Curve" format[clarification needed] similar to the process used in selecting the field for the men's tournament.

Notably, the first two times this occurred were at the hands of the same school: Of the 20 teams who have entered the tournament unbeaten, 10 went on to win the National Championship.

The only team to play on its home court was Texas in 1987, which lost its semifinal game at the now-defunct Frank Erwin Special Events Center.

The following year, USC won the national title at Pauley Pavilion, the home court of its Los Angeles archrival UCLA.

7 championship games have featured two teams from the same conference (winner listed first and bolded): Broadcast rights to the NCAA women's basketball tournament are included in a larger package covering most NCAA Division I championships,[12][13] outside of men's basketball (which is held by CBS and TNT Sports),[14] and golf (which is held by Golf Channel).

[16] Coverage later expanded to include ESPN's college sports-oriented network ESPNU, and ESPN360 for streaming.

[17] In 2011, ESPN renewed this agreement through the 2023–24 season, in a deal reported to be worth $500 million in total.

The deal also included rights to the men's tournament outside of the United States for ESPN International.

[18] In 2024, ESPN renewed the contract again through 2032 (aligned with the end of the media rights for the men's tournament), in an agreement valued at $920 million over eight years.

[21][22] In data issued by the NCAA in 2021, it was stated that 15.9% of the value of the contract was allocated to the women's tournament, or approximately $6.1 million annually.

[23][24] Based on average viewership, Emily Caron and Eben Novy-Williams of Sportico estimated that the women's tournament could fetch at least $20 million per year if its media rights were sold separately.

[25] Following major media criticism of inequities between the 2021 men's and women's tournaments, the NCAA commissioned a comprehensive gender equity review of its championships by the law firm Kaplan Hecker & Fink.

[12][13] In an interview on NBC's Meet the Press on the day of the 2023 national championship, new NCAA president Charlie Baker implicated that the media rights to the women's basketball tournament may be sold separately in the next rights cycle, stating that "we do have an opportunity to put it out separately, and we're going to work really hard to make sure that those student-athletes, those schools, those programs get what I describe as what they should get.

"[26] Interest in Caitlin Clark's tournament run had led to record viewership of Iowa's Women's Final Four and championship games on ESPN and ABC, respectively.

[21][27] Nevertheless, the NCAA renewed its existing agreements with ESPN in January 2024 under an eight-year agreement, with ESPN paying approximately $115 million per season, and the NCAA having valued the media rights to the Division I women's basketball tournament at $65 million.

The agreement also includes expanded rights for ESPN to sell sponsorships (although CBS/WBD will still administer the NCAA Corporate Champion and Partner Program sponsorships per its rights to the men's tournament), and guarantees that the national championship will air on ABC annually.