NCAA Tournament Changes

This story talks about the possibility of the NCAA opting out of its contract with CBS and taking it's NCAA Tournament to the highest bidder. What it also talks about is the possible expansion of the tournament to 96 teams. You read that right, 96, or just slightly more than a quarter of all Division 1 NCAA Basketball teams. From a pure business stand point it makes a lot of sense, and it would make even more sense if ESPN were to win the bid, when they spend that amount of money on an event they make sure to promote the hell out of it, and the roll out all the bells and whistles to make the event that much more enjoyable for fans. And a Brent Musburger and Coach Bobby Knight team for the Final Four would be incredibly enjoyable. That being said, from a fan standpoint and a basketball standpoint, 96 teams is insane.


I for one am not the biggest fan of college basketball until it hits late February and early March and expanding the tournament would make the regular season even more irrelevant and you'd lose viewers during the regular season.

96 teams would mean more mediocre big conference teams or more mid major conference teams who don't match up well with the superior big conference teams. This country loves rooting for the underdog but in reality, when was the last underdog to actually win the NCAA tournament? You're just causing more work for what will most likely end up being the traditional teams playing for another national championship.

More teams in the tournament also gives more coaches the opportunity to claim that they've taken their teams to the tournament. This will increase the coaching carousel that is in my opinion is destroying college athletics. It also leads to higher salaries for coaches, something a lot of people have a problem with.

The funny thing is these reasons are just purely from a fan's standpoint, the NCAA is all about the money nowadays and these reasons don't matter in the slightest to the NCAA higher ups because they don't affect the bottom line. I'm bracing for the change and I have one request, please keep Gus Johnson attached to the NCAA Tournament for calls like these: