NCAA Basketball Expands Its Wallet

by Jeremiah Tittle

While all the discussion and opinion and argumentation and analysis of what expansion would do to or for or against the NCAA Tournament spiraled out of control, the reality was something altogether anticlimactic.

In a nutshell, the NCAA opted out of the last few years of its previous contract with CBS only to net an additional 4.8 billion dollars over the course of a 14 year deal – adding revenue of more than 2oo million per season – with both CBS and Turner in which the television host of the Final Four and National Championship will toggle back and forth following the 2015 season.

As if the TV networks agreeing to share wasn’t strange enough, the only expansion in terms of actual games played resulted in the addition of 3 play-in games on the Tuesday before the real bracketology starts. Despite the approval of the NABC to move forward with the much hyped 96-team bracket, the NCAA decided to take the money and minimize expansion to merely 4 play-in games resulting in a 68 team tournament.

Whether a team must win 6 games or 9 games straight, a playoff is the only true way to determine a champion. If only the BCS was taking notes when March Madness dwarfed the appeal and satisfaction of college football’s finale.

Jeremiah Tittle is the Managing Editor of SportsFansCoalition.org.

A tournament. What a novel concept. 

No matter how many people complain about how easy Duke’s road is to the Final Four this year – which has generated enough conspiracy theories to fill a book - Jon Scheyer and the gang still have to play the games. Getting there is no cake walk in NCAA basketball like it is in other sports.  Coach K will tell you it’s true.

What frustrates college football fans so much this time of year is reflecting on what could have been and what could be. The sport would not merely be improved by a playoff, but rather brought up to the standards of every other sport in NCAA competition.

Doesn’t it strike you as odd that this one sport continues to buck the trend, playing by its own off-the-field rules using backroom deals and million dollar-payoffs to continue this sadness for 90% of its fans. All of this amidst the NCAA Tournament in basketball which happens to be one of the greatest weekends if not the greatest month in sports.

NCAA Basketball has found a way to generate close to 90% of its revenue from 3 weeks of games. The buzz is unbelievable. So much so that the NCAA may end up backing out of its deal with CBS just to renegotiate the inclusion of another 32 teams. 

That’s right. Expansion is a real possibility. Whether that would be good or bad for the sport is another story centered on supply-and-demand arguments.

What’s shocking about that idea is that while the good ol’ boys in college football stonewall and stagnate on any change that might help their sport, improve their image among fans, and actually give up the sham of the current BCS system – which makes fans wait a month for a consistently uninteresting lineup of blowouts all for the sake of the University Presidents, Conference Commissioners, and NCAA honchos receiving their yearly bonuses – NCAA Basketball is looking to improve.

Long-time CBS broadcaster Billy Packer commented that the “decision is not a basketball decision.  It has everything to do with finances.” While many share his view that expansion is about the money first and foremost, the ultimate product would provide more opportunity for sports fans’ fringe teams typically relegated to the NIT. It also provides more games to watch. Less excitement? Perhaps. But consider the Cinderella story of a 9 game winning streak to reach the trophy. That story would be available to any school to claim as their own.

It’s about opportunity, the product for the fan, and as alway, the money.

Let today be a lesson to all those in favor of the BCS. Your inferior product makes you feel a little dirty every time you cash their checks and argue it’s better for the sport, doesn’t it? (This last sentence is based on the premise that the only people who are pro-BCS receive money from the organization, the NCAA, or a media-affiliate.)

For the rest of us sports fans today, you can lean back in your office chair, size up your brackets, and enjoy the next 3 weeks knowing anything can happen. Upsets are the rule rather than the exception. It’s an exciting time to be a sports fan. If only our winters could be this entertaining; fairly determining a champion of the sport we love.

Sports Fans Coalition board member Dave Zirin wrote a piece published in the LA Times yesterday delivering a scathing review of the BCS.

It’s entertaining, sickening, and informative.

Click on the link in the NEWS section titled ‘Congress Should Bench the BCS’. 

Especially for those still questioning whether Congress should get involved, it’s worth the read.