The Tournament Pays Off - NYTimes.com March 23, 2012, 7:33 pm ATLANTA - The N.C.A.A. tournament is a bonanza for conferences who can get multiple teams into it. Each game a university plays is worth $242,204 for six years. So each game is worth $1,453,224. Do the math for a team like Kentucky that could get paid for five games in this tournament (the championship game does not count). Imagine the haul for the Big Ten, which had six teams in the tournament and saw four reach the Round of 16 (Indiana, Wisconsin, Michigan State, Ohio State). The Big Ten has already made more than $38 million. The N.C.A.A. encourages conferences to share the money among its members, but some colleges get a little extra from their respective conference offices. There are usually snarky comments on Web sites around the Southeastern Conference - particularly from Alabama, Florida and Louisiana State fanatics - around bowl time when Kentucky does not play in a bowl, or one that pays well. The Wildcats still get a share of the bowl money in the distribution process, irking fans from the football powerhouses. The Kentucky basketball team helps make up the difference - especially this Kentucky basketball team, which is favored to get to the Final Four and earn $7.2 million for the SEC.