Upon Further Review: Madness might be delayed
The two sweetest words in college basketball, “March Madness.”
It’s finally here. Or is it?
With the possibility of war with Iraq, March Madness could very well be extended into April or even May this year. Depending on the status of the war, NCAA officials have said this could be a two- or three-day delay — or two to three weeks.
With the threat of war, the NCAA is trying to decide if it should postpone the start of the tournament Thursday or, if war breaks out, stop the games while in progress.
If war should happen, it would cost the NCAA and CBS millions. This is the first year of CBS’s 11-year contract for the NCAA Tournament. The investment, which cost the network around $6 billion dollars, includes exclusive TV, radio, home video, Internet and marketing rights. To broadcast 63 games over 10 days will cost the network approximately $32 million per day.
If war begins CBS will more than likely show wall-to-wall coverage of the news from Iraq to best serve the public’s interest. And without a doubt the concerns of the men and women who are serving our country outweigh who wins a basketball game.
It’s not just the loss of revenue from the basketball tournament if war starts. You also have to factor in all the commercials in between regular programming. For example, the cost of one commercial during primetime programming can cost as much as $500,000. One night of lost programming can mean $12 million or more to a major network. But that’s a small price to pay when you consider our armed forces are ready to give their lives for this country.
• As far as the tournament is concerned, the NCAA selection committee has once again turned March Madness into a March Blunder.
I know some teams which deserve to be in the tournament are always going to be left out. Everybody can’t play in the tournament, but for goodness sakes, can’t they do a little better job than what they are doing now?
Yes some of you think I’m all upset because Tennessee didn’t make the big dance. Well, I am, and they should have made it over Alabama and Auburn. Auburn had a very weak pre-conference schedule. They lost to Western Kentucky by 19 points and are 5-9 in their last 14 games. But I feel the real kicker is a team like Boston College, which won the regular season championship in the Big East, was snubbed. The West region is full of powerhouses. Is it really good for the tournament to put Arizona, Kansas, Duke and Illinois in the same region?
Then you put the best teams on the same side of the bracket, such as Kentucky in the Midwest and Arizona in the West. Kentucky should have been in the Eastern bracket. What does all this tell us? I’m not sure. But somebody really missed up in deciding who plays where.
To take care of all this controversy, next year they should have one big tournament with every team that is an NCAA member. Just think about it, six weeks of tournament madness and all that money the networks will make.
If we do go to war with Iraq basketball or any other sport means very little compared to what our military men and women will have to experience.