The NCAA is always looking for ways to expand it’s cash cow– the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. After all, over 95% of the total revenue for the organization’s governing body comes from the broadcast rights to this exciting tournament. It’s hard to blame them for trying to get every last nickel out of it if they can.
As a huge college basketball fan, I am in favor of expanding the field, but under two conditions:
- If there are more play-in games, the bubble teams have to play in those games. I expect to see the middle-ranked teams from major conferences playing each other rather than two smaller conference champions fighting it out. Just because your name is UNC doesn’t mean you get to pass that play-in round if you wouldn’t have even made the tournament had it not been for the expansion.
- The NCAA doesn’t get too carried away and expand the field out of greed when in fact there are not 128 qualified teams that should be making it every year. Out of close to 350 teams, I could image upwards of 96 fun teams to watch, but beyond that, I think it is important for someone to draw the line.
That all said, I’m excited that for the first time ever all games will be shown live starting next year thanks to CBS, TBS, TNT and truTV.
