Like many others, this past weekend was marked with a special sort of celebration: the printing of this year’s March Madness bracket. The page is already filled to the brim and it’s hard to believe that there’s a possible future where even more games could be added.
Currently, the issue seems to be contentious for fans. The support comes from the top dog game commissioners. While most of the conference members believe the expansion would be great for schools and the league as a whole, they all agree it comes down to the numbers.
Schools that make appearances in the NCAA tournament benefit from payouts that help boost not only their image but also fund the majority of their athletic budget. Take schools like UCONN for example that are staples in the basketball world, they benefit greatly from their image and legacy. Being able to afford huge facility upgrades like their jumbotron upgrade and amassing enough fans to sell out regular season tickets. Now, with talks of an expansion, game commissioners are hoping this effect will benefit smaller schools and serve as a sort of trickle down effect.
Furthermore, March Madness already accounts for over half of the NCAA revenue (900 million of the 1.4 billion). More teams means more units to distribute, the tournament would have to guarantee they’ll make enough money to keep the distribution at current levels.
Beyond distribution of revenue concerns, there are also access issues. In order for the expansion to even matter, the tournament needs to reach more audience members.
2 comments:
I think another important aspect to consider is how NIL affects March Madness as well. NIL seems to favor powerhouse blue blood schools instead of the smaller unknown schools. For example, Fairleigh Dickinson University won two or three rounds in March Madness a few years back. Their home arena was about the same size as Branch Rickey. Schools like FDU deserve more chances to increase revenue in the biggest stage of college basketball.
I'm curious if they could look at how the expansion affected the College Football landscape this past season. Personally, I would love to see some games at a home campus, to raise student involvement.
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