By MICHAEL MAROT
AP Sports Writer
April 22, 2010
INDIANAPOLIS--
The NCAA is on the verge of expanding the men's basketball tournament
from 65 to 68 teams beginning next year and announced a new, $10.8
billion broadcasting deal with CBS Sports and Turner Broadcasting on
Thursday that will allow every game to be shown live for the first time.
"This
is an important day for intercollegiate athletics and the 400,000
student-athletes who compete in NCAA sports," interim NCAA president
Jim Isch said. "This agreement will provide on average more than $740
million annually to our conferences and member schools."
Any
move had hinged on the NCAA's $6 billion, 11-year television deal with
CBS. The deal, signed in 1999, had a mutual opt-out until July 31 and
the NCAA took it amid speculation that ESPN might become a partner in
one of the most popular and lucrative tournaments in sports.
Instead,
the NCAA struck a 14-year agreement with CBS and Turner Broadcasting
System Inc. The deal, which runs from 2011 through 2024, will show
every game live across four national networks for the first time in the
tournament's 73-year history.
Sean McManus, president of CBS News and Sports, said the "new strategic partnership" was a core asset -- and a profitable one.
The
men's tournament last expanded in 2001, adding one team to the 64-team
field that was set in 1985, and talk of tweaking March Madness again
had generated a lot of criticism from fans and bracket-fillers worried
about watering down the competition.
The NCAA studied expanding
the tournament to 68, 80 or even 96 teams, with the latter option
likely enveloping the 32-team NIT. But the NCAA said that the Division
I Men's Basketball Committee unanimously passed the 68-team proposal
and it will be reviewed by the Board of Directors on April 29.
The
proposal is strictly for the men's tournament. Another NCAA committee
is looking at whether to expand the women's tournament or keep it in
the current format.
