You might think that the suits at the NCAA headquarters out in Indianapolis have enough to be concerned with.
Let’s see, the transfer portal, NIL, the recently approved House settlement, which allows schools to compensate athletics directly, and future conference realignment.
Nope.
Now they are greasing the pan for the NCAA men’s and women’s basketball tournaments to get even larger.
The NCAA Tournament, March Madness, has remained the same for the last 15 years.
The introduction of the First Four expanded the field from 64 to 68 teams, which, for the most part, has been viewed as a good idea.
However, we’re now hearing that the NCAA is discussing a proposal with its media partners, CBS Sports for men and ESPN for women, which would see both the men’s and women’s fields expand from 68 to possibly 76 teams.
According to NCAA President Charles Baker, the expansion would help “fringe” teams avoid being excluded from the tournament.
Baloney.
This isn’t about making it more fair for the “fringe” teams (i.e., those not deserving), but rather about the fact that more teams create more games.
And more games create additional inventory for the networks.
Inventory creates more opportunities to sell advertising.
Think about all the meaningless college football bowl games televised by ESPN, often butting heads on a Tuesday afternoon in December with the soaps and talk shows on the other networks.
This is what the addition of the eight or so “fringe” teams is all about.
Inventory.
More advertising opportunities.
More cash.
Likely, the member institutions will not balk at this idea.
After all, most of those schools just got hit with a $21 million expense courtesy of the aforementioned House settlement.
Oh, and those NCAA folks are pretty sneaky, as well.
Recently, they announced that the Men’s and Women’s Basketball Oversight Committees have proposed legislation to increase the number of games in both men’s and women’s basketball schedules from 30 to 32.
OK, 30 to 32.
More games, more inventory.
You know the rest.
Last season, the College Football Playoff went from four to 12 teams.
The CFP began on Dec. 20 and concluded with the championship game on Jan. 20.
March Madness is more streamlined: the First Four games started on March 20, with the championship game played on April 7.
In basketball conferences such as the SEC, Big Ten and ACC, which have access to more resources (money), they will be better positioned to navigate the new world of pay-for-play college sports.
The fallout is this: fewer and fewer Cinderella teams will be advancing deep into the tournament.
Oh, you will always have a Loyola-Chicago or a Rider win a game or two, but advancing to the Final Four is not likely.
This past season, Houston, Duke, Florida and Auburn made it to San Antonio and the Final Four.
All four schools from the Power 4 conferences.
Better get used to that.
It’s ok to believe that the NCAA is simply looking out for the small guys, the “fringe” teams.
However, in the real world, this is simply a cash grab.
Hope those “student-athletes” have a say in this matter.
Share
