The brewing rev-share battle that will upend college basketball: ‘Why am I going to lose another $2 million?’

Jeff Walz loves where the women’s college basketball game is right now.

As one of only four active coaches who have made four Final Fours — Dawn Staley, Geno Auriemma and Kim Mulkey the others — the Louisville women’s basketball coach has seen the game grow more competitive as more universities prioritize and invest in the sport. 

Since 2015, six different programs have won national championships, with UConn and South Carolina the only multi-winners. He’s appreciative of the accompanying national media attention and social media discussion around the women’s game as TV ratings have skyrocketed in recent years. Buoyed by the Caitlin Clark bonanza, last year’s title game between Iowa and South Carolina drew in a massive audience of 18.9 million viewers, the most-watched basketball game (men or women) since 2019. 

If there’s a concern, though, it is how the impending NCAA v. House settlement could impact the investment individual schools pour into women’s college basketball, and ultimately, how that affects the sport overall.

“We’ve worked so hard in the 30 years I’ve been involved in getting parity in the game. When I first got in everybody played it but you had only eight, nine schools that truly had a…