Omaha, Neb. -- The performance of Syracuse basketball's amateur athletes has been worth nearly $6.6 million to the Atlantic Coast Conference, the most of any team currently playing in the Sweet 16.

That achievement can be attributed to the fact that SU was forced to play an extra game in the First Four, allowing the Orange to earn an extra financial unit.

Schools are, essentially, rewarded one financial unit by the NCAA for each game they play in the NCAA Tournament (excluding the NCAA title game). This year, the NCAA has said that those units are worth $273,000. A team that plays in the NCAA Tournament earns that unit for the next six years.

The NCAA makes more than $700 million through the NCAA Tournament, its largest revenue stream. The organization made more than $1 billion last year for the first time. It then returns a big chunk of that money to the schools that compose it.

In 2018 the NCAA reported that it will send back $576 million to its schools and conferences through various programs, including $216.6 million through participation and performance in the NCAA Tournament.

Heading into the Sweet 16, the ACC has earned the most units of any conference at 19. Most conferences, including the ACC, collect those units and distribute them equally among their schools.

Syracuse's performance would be worth nearly $440,000 to each ACC school assuming no money is removed to pay conference administrative fees.

The ACC leads all conferences in the NCAA Tournament so far by accumulating 19 units, making $31.1 million based on the performance of its teams so far. The Big XII is second with 18 units worth $29.4 million for its conference.

Each conference has four teams remaining. The ultimate ceiling for the ACC is lower than the Big XII because it has three teams in the Midwest Region, while the Big XII has one team alive in every region.

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