Abilene Christian Estimates Men's Tournament Run Worth $120 Million

The No. 14 seeded Wildcats busted brackets everywhere with their upset of Texas and generated a windfall of revenue for their school.

Abilene Christian president Dr. Phil Schubert estimates the school's improbable NCAA men's basketball tournament victory netted them well over $100 million.

"So far we are close to $120 million plus and we really haven’t had time to tally up the totals,” Schubert said in a phone interview with the Fort Worth Star-Telegram before his school played UCLA on Monday.

ACU is a small private school in west Texas that joined Division I basketball in 2013 after a long history of competing at the Division II level. They entered the tourney as a massive underdog in the first round and were matched up against No. 3 seed Texas. 

The No. 14 seed Wildcats busted brackets everywhere in their 53–52 upset of the Longhorns. It was their second appearance in the men's tournament and it was much more successful than their first trip, when they were blown out by Kentucky in 2019 by 35 points but still earned an estimated $74 million, per the Fort Worth Telegram.

Their Cinderella run was ended in the Round of 32 when UCLA won 67–47, but ACU coach Joe Golding didn't let the loss diminish what his team accomplished. 

“You can say what you want, but Abilene Christian beat the University of Texas less than 48 hours ago,” Golding said. "I hope people learn about ACU. It’s a special place.”

SI’s tournament newsletter analyzes everything you need to know about the Big Dance: what just happened and what’s happening next. Sign up for Morning Madness here.