Cascade/waterfall chart of Distribution and Number of Teams in Each NCAA Conference

March Madness Profits by NCAA Conference

Eight of the 32 NCAA division one conferences received 2/3 of the almost $200 million the NCAA distributed from the 2015 men's basketball tournament.  The teams from the American and Big East conferences were the largest beneficiaries.  Teams from these eight conferences accounted for 43 of the 68 teams in the 2016 tournament and all four top seeds.  The cascade chart below, based on data from the NCAA, summarizes the 2015 distributions:

March Madness 2015 Profits By Conference

The cascade chart allows you to build up the NCAA distributions by conference for the largest beneficiaries.  I added a subtotal bar to show the percentage received from the top 8 conferences.  I showed individual percentages in the bars.  I also added two data rows to show how 2015 distributions related to 2016 participation.  The data could be shown in a pie chart, but it would be harder to show the subtotal and to relate the pie slices to 2016 participation.  Here is the chart in SlideShare to download and edit using Mekko Graphics: