(04-05-2024 08:36 AM)Sitting bull Wrote:  Great game and atmosphere last night.

I think leaving MSG took a lot of the luster from the NIT overall but Indianapolis is probably the best option to maintain some viability. It’s a basketball crazed city and will support the event better than NYC. You also have a better geographical location to draw participating teams.

Classic building with hot crowd is what the NIT should focus on

Another idea that the NCAA might want to consider is selling the NIT brand to ESPN.

Let ESPN run thing thing similar to how Fox is running the Vegas tournament with 16 teams

ESPN could give 2 "Auto bids" but really no opt out guarantee to the ACC, SEC, AAC, and A10 and then fill in the other 8 bids with top mid majors whom they already partner with and won't turn down a 2ndry tournament bid, that got left out or more ACC/SEC teams that want to play

This season something like this would have look
ACC: Pitt, Wake, VA Tech
SEC: Ole Miss, LSU, Georgia
AAC: Memphis, USF, SMU,
A10: Loyola, Richmond
OTHERS: Indiana St, Princeton, UC Irvine, San Francisco, App St

https://www.sportsmediawatch.com/2024/04...-14-years/

Quote: Placing second for the night among sportscasts, the Seton Hall-Indiana State men’s NIT championship game averaged 1.41 million on ESPN, up 280% from last year on ESPN2 (UAB-North Texas: 370K) and the most-watched NIT game since Robert Morris upset Kentucky in the first round of the 2013 tournament (1.6M). The Pirates’ win also ranks as the most-watched NIT title game since 2010. The full NIT was the most-watched since 2016.

NIT 2024 had good ratings.