Tournament Expansion News!

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DJ ) 04/22 12:07PM *DJ CBS Sports, Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. And The National Collegiate Athletic Assoc Reach 14-Yr Agreement For Division I Men's Basketball Championship
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04-22-10 1207ET
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( DJ ) 04/22 12:07PM *DJ CBS, Turner, NCAA Pact Includes Television, Internet, Wireless, Marketing Rights Through 2024
(MORE TO FOLLOW) Dow Jones Newswires (212-416-2400)
04-22-10 1207ET
Copyright (c) 2010 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.



( DJ ) 04/22 12:09PM *DJ CBS, Turner, NCAA Pact Worth More Than $10.8B
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04-22-10 1209ET
Copyright (c) 2010 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
 


That's 14 more years of Jennifer Hudson singing "One Shining Moment"... :rolleyes:
 




Kudos to the NCAA for thinking this through and perhaps listening to the (majority of) their fans? Gotta' believe they felt some of the backlash. Expanding to 68 is something I can live with, though what it really means is 6 additional small schools will have the ignominy of having to play their way into the tournament.

For now, this decision preserves the integrity of the regular season and, to a lesser extent, the conference tournaments. That's what I'm most excited about.

I would expect 96 is still on the table for somewhere not too far down the line.
 

So make that 3 more teams that get screwed and dont actually make it to the real tournament.

This bubble was so weak this year, I couldnt imagine 3 more at larges in the tourney. Yuk.

And this by no means is turning off the 96 team switch. This contract only lasts until 2014.
 

14 more years of Clark Kellogg?????? :(
 

I understood the hatred for the 96 team model but if you are pretending to be outraged over 3 more teams then you just like pretending to be outraged. Not a big deal at all.
 




All things considered, I'll take this over the alternative. I'm glad it's staying on CBS at least partially, and 68 is tolerable. While I don't doubt 96 will rear it's ugly head again, I assume they'll let this be for 3-4 years at minimum.

Now my only question is...what is Tru TV and does DirecTV carry it in high definition? I suspect the Gophers will end up there...
 

The best part of this news is EVERY GAME ON TV! How often is your local game a blowout while there's a great game coming down to the wire.

No longer having to pull out my laptop or run to the corner bar is good news.
 

All things considered, I'll take this over the alternative. I'm glad it's staying on CBS at least partially, and 68 is tolerable. While I don't doubt 96 will rear it's ugly head again, I assume they'll let this be for 3-4 years at minimum.

Now my only question is...what is Tru TV and does DirecTV carry it in high definition? I suspect the Gophers will end up there...

Tru TV is a reality TV station owned by Turner (I think). DirecTV doesn't have it in high def, but I suspect this may change that.
 



My initial thought (other than, super, it's not 96) was the same as Nate's, every game will be on live. No longer have to go to a bar/restaurant to see the games I want to see.
 

There should be dancing in the streets over this. Color me shocked (seriously) that the NCAA chose to preserve the integrity of the best overall sporting event on the planet at the expense of money grubbing. Kudos to them for keeping their heads removed from their collective rectum, listening to the fans, and actually making their once-a-decade correct decision. Hey, even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while.
 


My bad

The original article i read on espn stated an out clause after 2014.
 

This is an expansion I can get behind.

1. It creates stability for the near future. No more 96-team talk for a while.
2. It only adds 3 teams to the field. It'll be slightly more watered down but not to the point of making the conference tourneys, etc pointless. There still will be bubble talk that's meaningful.
3. I like the amount of cash going to the conferences. It'll only strengthen college basketball
4. EVERY GAME IS NOW ON TV!!!

Some negatives but hopefully mostly positives. Have they mentioned how they will handle the additional 3 teams? Will the small conference schools be forced to play their way in or will they have the last bubble teams fight for a spot? I'd prefer the latter.
 

Myron's tweet seem less certain that this is all decided for sure. But he was saying 96 was certain an hour ago. Then again, we know how reliable of a source he is...
 

Awesome!

I can live with 68 for sure.

96 would have been a disaster.
 

Some negatives but hopefully mostly positives. Have they mentioned how they will handle the additional 3 teams? Will the small conference schools be forced to play their way in or will they have the last bubble teams fight for a spot? I'd prefer the latter.

Having the 4 play-in games between bubble teams on the 12 line would be better basketball and actually make the Tuesday games meaningful. However, to preserve the popularity of bracket pools and gambling in general, I suspect the 16 line will have the 4 play-in games, thereby not changing anyone's current routine's when it comes to the play-in games (i.e. disregard them completely.)
 


This bubble was so weak this year, I couldn't imagine 3 more at larges in the tourney. Yuk.

[sarcasm]Yeah, because a second team from the Missouri Valley or another school from the Mountain West would sure make the tournament field weak.[/sarcasm]
 

This is an expansion I can get behind.

1. It creates stability for the near future. No more 96-team talk for a while.
2. It only adds 3 teams to the field. It'll be slightly more watered down but not to the point of making the conference tourneys, etc pointless. There still will be bubble talk that's meaningful.
3. I like the amount of cash going to the conferences. It'll only strengthen college basketball
4. EVERY GAME IS NOW ON TV!!!

Some negatives but hopefully mostly positives. Have they mentioned how they will handle the additional 3 teams? Will the small conference schools be forced to play their way in or will they have the last bubble teams fight for a spot? I'd prefer the latter.

Good question.

It would seem that this plan adds three more bubble teams and reduces the cinderalla teams, unless they're stipulating that all conference winners avoid the play-in games. Not a huge change but it seems a case of the rich (bcs schools) getting just a bit richer.
 

Haven't had a chance to read up: will the 3 additional teams plus the current 65th teams be bubble play-ins, or will the #1's get a first round bye? I'd heard some scuttlebutt about that during the tourney.
 

Haven't had a chance to read up: will the 3 additional teams plus the current 65th teams be bubble play-ins, or will the #1's get a first round bye? I'd heard some scuttlebutt about that during the tourney.

Don't think I follow your math. If they gave the four #1's a bye and the other 64 teams played, you'd end up with 36 teams after the 1st round (32 + 4). There has to be 4 play-in games to get from 68 to 64, it's just a question of which line in the bracket they'll play in to, the #12 seed or the #16.
 

So why is Marcus already picking a fight with Tubby?

"GophersNow Tubby's chances at making NCAA tourney for third straight year at MN gets even better with expansion to 68 teams. But does it mean the same?
7 minutes ago via web "
 

I think (hope) going only to 68 shows a couple of things:

-That the NCAA heard and reacted to the huge public back-lash at the 96 team format.

-That the real increase in money was not from adding 31 medicore games that might drive away the casual fans with the sheer bloat, but from getting the tournament at least partially on cable. The reality is that broadcast TV is slowly dying and cannot pass on the cost of things like this to the cable/satellite companies as easily as the cable networks can. Retransmission fees for over-the-air stations have only started to happen in the past few years and the cable companies fight them at every turn. Therefore, the only way to get more money was to involve a cable partner that has the clout to get thier money back in increased fees. This was presumed to be ESPN, since they've taken over almost everything else, but turned out to be Turner.

Jennifer Hudson aside, CBS has done an excellent job of things over the past 20 years, and I'm glad they're sticking around. Further, I hope Turner leaves well enough alone and basically lets CBS continue to handle most aspects of production, etc.
 

Beowulf hit it right on the head; it's the rich getting richer. Three more at-larges -- which pure percentages say will go to the major conferences -- while now 8 small-conference champions (instead of 2) will be shooed off to the play-in round.

I'll be positively stunned if they force the lowest 8 bubble teams (defacto #11 and #12 seeds) to play their way into the Round of 64. NOT.............. GONNA'................... HAPPEN, though I sure hope it does.
 

Beowulf hit it right on the head; it's the rich getting richer. Three more at-larges -- which pure percentages say will go to the major conferences -- while now 8 small-conference champions (instead of 2) will have be shoved to the play-in round.

I'll be positively stunned if they force the lowest 8 bubble teams to play their way into the Round of 64. NOT.............. GONNA'................... HAPPEN, though I sure hope it does.

So true SS...

Maybe a good thing that will come out of this is a tougher opponent for the #16 vs #1 game...
 




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