Women’s basketball teams finally will be paid for playing games in the NCAA Tournament each March just like the men have for years under a plan approved Wednesday at the NCAA convention.

The unanimous vote by NCAA membership was the final step toward a pay structure for women playing in March Madness after the Division I Board of Governors voted unanimously for the proposal in August.

Now, so-called performance units, which represent revenue, will be given to women’s teams playing in the tournament. A women’s basketball team that reaches the Final Four could bring its conference roughly $1.26 million over the next three years in financial performance rewards.

In the first year, $15 million will be awarded to teams out of the fund, which is 26% of the women’s basketball media revenue deal. That will grow to $25 million, or 41% of the revenue, by 2028. The 26% is on par with what men’s basketball teams received the first year the performance units program was established.

College Football

Meyer joins Saban in CFB Hall of Fame >> Urban Meyer will join Nick Saban in the 2025 College Football Hall of Fame class, and Michael Vick and Michael Strahan are among the former players who will be inducted.

The National Football Foundation announced Saban’s selection last week and the rest of the 18-player, four-coach class on Wednesday.

Saban retired last year as the NCAA’s active leader in wins with 292-71-1 over 28 seasons at Toledo, Michigan State, LSU and Alabama. His seven national championships — one at LSU, six at Alabama — are most by a Football Bowl Subdivision coach.

Texas’ Ewers declares for draft >> Texas junior quarterback Quinn Ewers declared for the NFL draft.

Ewers passed for 9,128 yards and 68 touchdowns in a career that few Texas quarterbacks can match.

NFL

Browns hire Rees as offensive coordinator >> Tommy Rees went from being a ball boy for the Browns to running their offense.

Cleveland coach Kevin Stefanski hired Rees as his offensive coordinator on Wednesday, promoting him after firing Ken Dorsey following a season in which the Browns went 3-14 and averaged a league-low 15.2 points per game.

Rees spent last season as Cleveland’s tight ends coach, working with Mike Vrabel, who spent a year as a consultant with the Browns before being named New England’s coach this week.

Browns sued by city over potential stadium move >> Cleveland’s fight to keep the Browns from moving from downtown and into a proposed dome in the suburbs has taken yet another legal turn.

The city has filed a lawsuit to stop the NFL team from leaving Cleveland’s lakefront when its stadium lease expires after the 2028 season. Team owners Dee and Jimmy Haslam intend to build a $2.4 billion stadium and adjacent entertainment complex in Brook Park, Ohio, 15 miles south of the city.

Cleveland filed the lawsuit in the Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court.

Bo Jackson gives up harassment lawsuit money >> Former professional football and baseball player Bo Jackson is giving up a $21 million judgment against his niece and nephew, whom he said harassed and tried to extort money from him.

A judge in February ruled in Jackson’s favor in the suit he had filed in April 2023 against Thomas Lee Anderson and Erica M. Anderson, also known as Erica Anderson Ross. Jackson, a running back who won the Heisman Trophy at Auburn and also played in both the NFL and MLB, Jackson had alleged in his lawsuit that his relatives tried to extort $20 million from him through harassment and intimidation.

Colts to play in first NFL Berlin game >> The Indianapolis Colts will play in the first regular-season game in Berlin.

The NFL announced Tuesday that the 2025 Berlin game will be played at Olympic Stadium. The Colts’ opponent and date of game will be announced later.