Quote:
Originally Posted by eazyb81
(Post 5254745)
Are you a dumbfuck? Nobody cares about basketball outside of ku fans, unc fans, and a few others. Compare the budgets of D1 football and D1 bball.
Tomorrow is going to be great!
|
Do we really have to go through this again???
TV revenues and TV contracts are nearly 5 times more for college basketball tournament rather than college football's BCS games (not to mention, conference rights for networks such as FSN, Sunshine, etc.).
TV contracts = popularity.
March Madness first-round NCAA Tournament bids the committee served up include an interesting matchup between two of the nation’s best freshmen phenoms, O.J. Mayo of the All Pac-10 selection from USC and Michael Beasley of Kansas State.
With a fickle stock market adding more pressure for companies to meet and exceed expectations, does CBS and big media influence the matchups?
CBS Pays Big Money for NCAA Basketball Tournament
CBS Sports agreed yesterday to pay $6 billion to keep the NCAA men's basketball tournament for 11 more years, one week after failing to retain its Nascar rights.
The stunning contract for the three-week tournament, which has had declining ratings, means CBS will pay the N.C.A.A. an average of $545 million a year, or more than 2 1/2 times its current annual fee of $216 million.
''There is no more important event at CBS, not just at CBS Sports, than the men's basketball championship,'' said Sean McManus, president of CBS Sports.
CBS outbid joint efforts mounted by ABC and ESPN and by Fox and Fox Sports Net. The joint Fox bid was estimated at $5.1 billion and the ABC/ESPN offer a bit higher.
In the annals of sports rights payments to leagues or associations, the $545 million annual fee ranks behind only the $2.2 billion paid to the National Football League and the $650 million paid to the National Basketball Association.
Repeat after me, $545 million for the NCAA Tournament contract vs $650 million for the NBA's contract.
The payment by CBS is $45 million more than it spends on average for American Football Conference rights and equal to NBC's payment for the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. But it is less than the $750 million average NBC is paying for the 2000, 2004 and 2008 Summer Olympics and the 2006 Winter Games.
The BCS and ESPN announced a new four-year contract Tuesday. ESPN outbid Fox, which is paying $80 million annually to broadcast the games from 2007-10.
ESPN’s offer was for $125 million a year, according to a person with knowledge of the negotiations. The person requested anonymity because the networks are not releasing financial details.