Starting today and ending on April 8, the sports world will be once again transfixed on the men’s and women’s Division 1 NCAA Basketball Tournament- a.k.a. March Madness.
Over the next three weekends millions of U.S. sports fans will be engaging with the annual men’s and women’s Division 1 NCAA Basketball Tournament, a.k.a. March Madness. Starting today, 136 large and small schools from across the country will participate in both tournaments. In total, there will be a combined 134 elimination games, all on television and online, playing for the opportunity to be crowned a national champion. From now until April 8, the sports news will be dominated by the tournament along with social media, blogs, podcasts and analysis as millions are filling out and checking their brackets after every game.
Last Sunday, the NCAA announced the four top seeds for the men’s tournament; UConn, Houston, Purdue and North Carolina. Since 1985 a top seeded team has won the men’s tournament 25 times. For the women’s tournament the four #1 seeds are South Carolina, Iowa, USC and Texas. Of the 41 previous women’s tournaments a top seeded team had won 31 times.
With legalized sports wagering, unlicensed venues, office pools and personal bets, last year, an estimated $15.5 billion had been bet on the outcomes of the 134 games over the three extended weekends. David Forman, the American Gaming Association vice president of research said, “March Madness is the biggest kind of individual event of the year for sports betting.”
Among U.S. office workers, 63% say they will fill-out a March Madness bracket with colleagues. The odds of correctly picking the winner of every game in a 64-team tournament is 1 in 9.2 quintillion.
A survey among U.S. workers from NC Sharp released last month, found 51% plan to watch the tournament while at work. For hybrid workers, 73% plan to tune into the tournament, while 61% of remote workers will be watching the games. Additionally, in the past, 19% of workers have admitted to calling in sick to watch March Madness. While on the job, 44% plan to watch the games on their work computer, 23% will watch the games on their phones and 10% plan to be with co-workers watching on an office television set. With millions of workers engaged in the tournament, last year, Challenger, Grey & Christmas estimated a loss in productivity of $17.3 billion.
For the NCAA, March Madness is, by far away, the most lucrative event of its fiscal year. NCAA revenue for 2022-23 was $1.28 billion with about $1 billion coming from the basketball tournaments The men’s tournament began in 1939 and the women’s tournament had their beginnings in 1982. Both tournaments were cancelled in 2020 because of COVID.
Here is more information as both tournaments unfold in the upcoming weeks.
How to Watch/Media Rights
· For the men’s tournament the First Four is scheduled for March 19-20. The First Round featuring a total of 16 games is scheduled for March 21-22. CBS and TNT Sports own the television/streaming right to the Men’s tournament. The games will be televised on CBS, TNT, TBS and TruTV and streamed on Max and Paramount+. TBS will televise the Men’s Final Four, and the National Championship game on April 6 and April 8. The men’s schedule is here.
· CBS and Turner began carrying the men’s tournament in 2011 as part of a 14-year $10.8 billion agreement. In 2016 the agreement was extended through 2032 with an additional $8.8 billion.
· For the women’s tournament the First Four is scheduled for March 20-21. The First Round is scheduled for March 22-23. Every game of the women’s tournament will be aired on the Disney owned; ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU and ESPNEWS EWS . ESPN will televise the two Final Four games on April 5. The championship game is scheduled for April 7 and similar to last season will air on ABC. Disney will be televising the NCAA women’s championship game for the 29th time.
