Expansion fallout: What happens with the NCAA Tournament? Is the Big Dance nearing its last dance?
By Matt Hayes
Published:
So I sent a simple message to a Power 5 athletic director on the Fourth of July. One of those enjoy the day texts.
Then hit him with this: What’s happens to the NCAA Tournament?
His answer: “Great question.”
A few more calls to industry sources and athletic directors resulted is essentially the same: In the event of a full-scale, super conference college realignment, no one really knows what happens with the nearly $11 billion NCAA Tournament.
“CBS isn’t paying for Saint Peter’s,” a Power 5 athletic director told me. “They’re paying to see if Saint Peter’s can beat North Carolina.”
Therein lies the rub of the one of the greatest sports spectacles of the year. As much as the NCAA Tournament has become a rite of spring, it’s still the postseason of a sport — like it or not — fueled by bracket gambling and the little guy beating the big guy.
Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
David vs. Goliath in the tournament will occasionally result in a magical run from VCU or George Mason. Or give us Dunk City, Sister Jean or UMBC. Or produce Doug Edert and that stache.
The NCAA Tournament IS college basketball. There’s no other way to look at it.
The college basketball regular season isn’t exactly a sterling television property. That’s not because of a lack of drama or entertainment, but because of the glut of games on a daily basis.
There is no product need, and limited anticipation for the rare, elite games. But networks keep force-feeding games — at times using broadcast teams sitting at home, hundreds or thousands of miles away from the court — and diluting the product because content is king during winter and spring months.
Then the conference tournaments begin, and the NCAA field is confirmed — and the bulletproof television property is unleashed. The one-and-done nature of the tournament somewhat evens the field and develops heroes and legends.
Anything other than the current format will absolutely fail — for the smaller conferences.
The power conferences could easily move forward with a tournament of their own that will still command billions in television revenue over the course of the contract — for the 50-60 teams in the new college football-based expansion.
For the nearly 300 remaining Division I basketball teams, that’s a death knell.
For now, the NCAA is in charge of all non-football championship tournaments. But the structure of the NCAA is changing, a transformation committee working through a massive overhaul that may or may not affect the two elite postseason properties: the NCAA Tournament (men’s and women’s) and the College World Series (baseball and softball).
If the top 50-60 schools pull away from the NCAA and run their own show — championships, television, enforcement — like some have argued, what becomes of the NCAA Tournament and the College World Series?
How are future television contracts negotiated, and are all Division I teams still financially covered under any new contract?
“The easiest thing to say is, it’s standard operating procedure,” a Power 5 athletic director said. “But there are egos involved, and there’s money involved. I don’t have to explain what happens when those two collide.”
The men’s NCAA Tournament keeps athletic departments alive, paying the bills for a majority of the 350-plus Division I teams. It’s not unlike Power 5 football teams playing games against Group of 5 and FCS schools.
Those rent-a-win games are million-dollar deals that provide scholarships and higher education for so many players in so many sports.
That’s why Texas A&M coach Jimbo Fisher was adamant at the SEC spring meetings when he declared the conference can’t walk way from FCS games.
“We need to play an (FCS) game,” Fisher said. “I came from that league of ball. A lot of great coaches did. How do those schools make budget? You have to trickle down the wealth. If you don’t, and those schools have to fold up, where do those kids get to play and get an education?”
A week before Saint Peter’s blowout loss to North Carolina in the Elite Eight, the Tar Heels beat defending national champion Baylor in the best game of the tournament. UNC blew a 25-point lead before winning in overtime.
The Saint Peter’s game, despite the blowout loss, was more poignant because it was David vs. Goliath.
It wasn’t the better game, but was the better television property.
And that might just be enough to save the NCAA Tournament as we know it.
Matt Hayes is a national college football writer for Saturday Down South. You can hear him daily from 12-3 p.m. on 1010XL in Jacksonville. Follow on Twitter @MattHayesCFB
