March Madness USA

The NCAA tournaments are an American tradition that sends millions of fans into a synchronized frenzy each year. It is this chaos that gives the tournament its March Madness nickname.

March Madness is the concentrated hype of 65 teams vying for college basketball’s biggest prize.

It’s the last-second, buzzer-beating baskets, the euphoria of winning to play another day, and the agony of losing and going home. In this article, we will break down the brackets of the NCAA Basketball Tournament and look at how teams are selected, how they are seeded and how the champions of college basketball are determined.

These tournaments determine the national champions of college basketball.

* 1/6 of the money goes directly to the schools based on how many sports they play (one “share” for each sport starting with 14, which is the minimum needed for Division I membership).

* 1/3 of the money goes directly to the schools based on how many scholarships they give out (one share for each of the first 50, two for each of the next 50, ten for each of the next 50, and 20 for each scholarship above 150).

* 1/2 of the money goes to the conferences based on how well they did in the six previous men’s basketball tournaments (counting each year separately, one share for each team getting in, and one share for each win except in the Play-in game and the Final Four). In 2007, based on the 2001 through 2006 tournaments, the Big East received over $14.85 million, while the eight conferences that did not win a first-round game in those six years received slightly more than $1 million each.

In 1989, ESPN began showing the opening rounds of the NCAA tournament, which established ESPN’s following among college basketball fans and was the network’s first contract signed with the NCAA for a major sport. According to many fans of the tournament, ESPN was easily the best broadcaster of the first round, as six first-round games could be seen on both Thursday and Friday on ESPN, and CBS then picked up a seventh game at 11:30 pm ET. This meant 14 of 32 first-round games were televised. ESPN also re-ran games overnight. ESPN did not (and does not) have regional affiliates, so the entire country had to watch the same game; there was also no ESPN2 or other channels. (Areas with local interest in a game could see the game on a local channel, regardless of which game ESPN televised.) The benefit of this was that ESPN always showed the most competitive games, since that was the best way to gain national appeal.

In 1982, CBS obtained broadcast television rights to the tournament. In 1991, CBS assumed responsibility for covering all games of the NCAA tournament, with the exception of the single Tuesday night “play-in” game. (The play-in game (between teams ranked 64 & 65) is televised by ESPN, except for the first one, which was aired on TNN, and used CBS graphics and announcers.)

Currently, CBS broadcasts the remaining 63 games of the NCAA tournament proper. Most areas see only eight of 32 first round games, seven second round games, and four regional semifinal games (out of the possible 56 games during these rounds). Coverage preempts regular programming on the network, except during a 2.5-hour window from about 5 ET until 7:30 when the local affiliates can show programming. The CBS format results in far fewer hours of first-round coverage than under the old ESPN format, with CBS showing a late game on both Thursday and Friday.

CBS provides two sets of feeds from each venue, known as “constant” and “flex”. Constant feeds remain primarily on a given game, and are used primarily by stations with local interest in a game. Despite its name, a constant feed may occasionally veer away to other games for brief updates, but coverage generally remains with the initial game. On a flex feed, coverage bounces around from one venue to another, depending on action at the various games in progress. If one game is a blowout, coverage can switch to a more competitive game. Station feeds are planned in advance and stations have the option of requesting either constant or flex feed for various games.

In 1999, DirecTV began broadcasting all games otherwise not shown on local television with its Mega March Madness premium package, at $49. The DirecTV system used the subscriber’s zip code to black out games which could be seen on broadcast television. Prior to that, all games were available on C-Band satellite and were picked up by sports bars. In 2003, CBS struck a deal with Yahoo! to offer live streaming of the first three rounds of games under its Yahoo! Platinum service, for $16.95 a month. In 2004, CBS sold access to March Madness On Demand for $9.95, which provided games not otherwise shown on broadcast television. The service was free for AOL subscribers. In 2005, the service charged $19.95 but offered enhanced coverage of pregame and postgame interviews and press conferences. In 2006, March Madness On Demand was made free, but dropped the coverage of interviews and press conferences. The service was profitable and set a record for simultaneous online streams at 268,000. In 2007, March Madness On Demand was again free to online users.

In addition, CSTV broadcasts two “late early” games that would not otherwise be broadcast nationally. These are the second games in the daytime session in the Pacific Time Zone, to avoid starting games before 10 AM. These games are also available via March Madness on Demand and on CBS affiliates in the market areas of the team playing. In other markets, newscasts, local programming or preempted CBS morning programming (such as The Price is Right) are aired. CSTV also broadcasts the official pregame and postgame shows and press conferences from the teams involved.

The Final Four has been broadcast in HDTV since 1999. From 2000 to 2004, only one first/second round site and one regional site were designated as HDTV sites. In 2005, all regional games were broadcast in HDTV, and four first and second round sites were designated for HDTV coverage. Local stations broadcasting in both digital and analog had the option of airing separate games on their HD and SD channels, to take advantage of the available high definition coverage. Beginning in 2007, all games in the tournament (including all first and second round games) were available in high definition, and local stations were required to air the same game on both their analog and digital channels. However, due to satellite limitations, first round “constant” feeds were only available in standard definition. Some digital television stations choose not to participate in HDTV broadcasts of the first and second rounds and the regional semifinals, and split their signal into digital subchannels to show all games going on simultaneously. Most notably, WRAL-TV in Raleigh, North Carolina has split its digital signal four ways since 2000 to show all of the games.

The entire country sees the regional finals, the national semifinals, and the national championship. At the end of CBS’ coverage, a highlight reel featuring memorable moments from the tournament is shown, set to the song One Shining Moment.

Outside of the United States, NASN simulcasts the NCAA tournament, including the one shown on CSTV, taking the suggested national feed.

Fans began connecting the term to the NCAA tournament in the early 1980s. Evidence suggests that CBS sportscaster Brent Musburger, who had worked for many years in Chicago prior to joining CBS, popularized the term during the annual tournament broadcasts.

Only in the 1990s did either the IHSA or NCAA think about trademarking the term, and by that time a small television production company named Intersport, Inc., had beaten them both to the punch. IHSA eventually bought the trademark rights from Intersport and then went after big game, suing GTE Vantage, Inc., an NCAA licensee that used the name March Madness for a computer game based on the college tournament. In an historic ruling, Illinois High School Association v. GTE Vantage, Inc. (1996), the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit created the concept of a “dual-use trademark”, granting both the IHSA and NCAA the right to trademark the term for their own purposes.

Following the ruling, the NCAA and IHSA joined forces and created the March Madness Athletic Association to coordinate the licensing of the trademark and investigate possible trademark infringement. One such case involved a company that had obtained the Internet domain name marchmadness.com and was using it to post information about the NCAA tournament. After protracted litigation, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held in March Madness Athletic Association v. Netfire, Inc. (2003) that March Madness was not a generic term and ordered Netfire to relinquish the domain name.

March Madness refers to the frenzy these tournaments ignite among sports fans and, at least at the college level, sports gamblers. As it applies to college basketball, the term originally referred to the conference basketball tournaments, which occur in March just before the NCAA tournament begins, but in recent years has been used to refer to the NCAA tournament itself (the first weekend of which involves some 49 games, and which actually runs into early April). The term is now used in reference to both the men’s and women’s tournaments. The Big Dance also refers exclusively to the NCAA Tournaments to distinguish them from the conference tournaments and the NIT.

As a tournament ritual, the winning team cuts down the net at the end of the regional championship game (and the national championship game). Each player cuts a single strand off of the net for themselves, commemorating their victory, with the head coach cutting the last strand and claiming the net itself. Furthermore, the regional champs (starting in 2007) receive a bronze plated NCAA Regional Championship trophy (previously given to only the Final Four teams that did not make the championship game), and the National Champions also receive a gold plated NCAA National Championship trophy along with a more elaborate marble/crystal trophy sponsored by Siemens. The loser of the championship game receives a silver plated National Runner-Up trophy for second place.