If we pushed the 1st 2 weekends to F-M, I'd have tines as:

R64: Noon/2:30/6:00/8:30
T32: 2/4/7/9
Sweet 16: 7/9
Elite 8: 4:30/8

It would ensure people can get to bed at reasonable hour on work/school nights

(03-30-2021 01:54 PM)Erictelevision Wrote:  If we pushed the 1st 2 weekends to F-M, I'd have tines as:

R64: Noon/2:30/6:00/8:30
T32: 2/4/7/9
Sweet 16: 7/9
Elite 8: 4:30/8

It would ensure people can get to bed at reasonable hour on work/school nights

well given how the TV ratings were I think we may be in for a major change in the tournament. Lets see how the elite 8 numbers go....

Sweet 16 best ratings in 28 years.

(03-30-2021 01:54 PM)Erictelevision Wrote:  If we pushed the 1st 2 weekends to F-M, I'd have tines as:

R64: Noon/2:30/6:00/8:30
T32: 2/4/7/9
Sweet 16: 7/9
Elite 8: 4:30/8

It would ensure people can get to bed at reasonable hour on work/school nights

Who cares? You choose to live on the East Coast, your problem.

(03-30-2021 02:52 PM)Stugray2 Wrote:  

(03-30-2021 01:54 PM)Erictelevision Wrote:  If we pushed the 1st 2 weekends to F-M, I'd have tines as:

R64: Noon/2:30/6:00/8:30
T32: 2/4/7/9
Sweet 16: 7/9
Elite 8: 4:30/8

It would ensure people can get to bed at reasonable hour on work/school nights

Who cares? You choose to live on the East Coast, your problem.

I also love how the 2nd Round & Sweet 16 games are tipping off the minute the prior game ends in the same arena, and the PTZ 1st Round host starts at 9am.

Yeah, that was my bad! Thanks for pointing out my OBVIOUS, STUPID error.

(03-30-2021 02:52 PM)Stugray2 Wrote:  

(03-30-2021 01:54 PM)Erictelevision Wrote:  If we pushed the 1st 2 weekends to F-M, I'd have tines as:

R64: Noon/2:30/6:00/8:30
T32: 2/4/7/9
Sweet 16: 7/9
Elite 8: 4:30/8

It would ensure people can get to bed at reasonable hour on work/school nights

Who cares? You choose to live on the East Coast, your problem.

I remember Keith Olbermann stating that he used to try to make the case that the World Series (and any other major sporting event) should start earlier because of the late ending times for workers and kids.

However, when he worked at Fox for a couple of years, he saw the minute-by-minute ratings data of the World Series and other MLB postseason games that showed that viewership virtually always went up for every minute up until midnight Eastern time. So, he realized that he was fighting a losing battle.

It's a common complaint that games start too late (and I understand it personally), but the ratings data continue to show that networks obtain maximum viewership with those later start times. The early start times are actually the killers for ratings because you're minimizing the audience at the beginning the games, which creates a lower audience floor.

(03-30-2021 02:01 PM)stever20 Wrote:  

(03-30-2021 01:54 PM)Erictelevision Wrote:  If we pushed the 1st 2 weekends to F-M, I'd have tines as:

R64: Noon/2:30/6:00/8:30
T32: 2/4/7/9
Sweet 16: 7/9
Elite 8: 4:30/8

It would ensure people can get to bed at reasonable hour on work/school nights

well given how the TV ratings were I think we may be in for a major change in the tournament. Lets see how the elite 8 numbers go....

Sweet 16 best ratings in 28 years.

It will be interesting to see.

The caveat is that this year's schedule was possible because of (1) having a single location of the Indianapolis area and (2) lower ticket capacity.

That's much harder to pull off with a normal pre-pandemic setup. Cities bidding to host the Sweet Sixteen/Elite Eight rounds definitely want the Elite Eight games on the weekend to maximize ticket and tourism revenue.

Still, TV is so critical that maybe it doesn't matter as much.

(03-30-2021 03:37 PM)Frank the Tank Wrote:  

(03-30-2021 02:52 PM)Stugray2 Wrote:  

(03-30-2021 01:54 PM)Erictelevision Wrote:  If we pushed the 1st 2 weekends to F-M, I'd have tines as:

R64: Noon/2:30/6:00/8:30
T32: 2/4/7/9
Sweet 16: 7/9
Elite 8: 4:30/8

It would ensure people can get to bed at reasonable hour on work/school nights

Who cares? You choose to live on the East Coast, your problem.

I remember Keith Olbermann stating that he used to try to make the case that the World Series (and any other major sporting event) should start earlier because of the late ending times for workers and kids.

However, when he worked at Fox for a couple of years, he saw the minute-by-minute ratings data of the World Series and other MLB postseason games that showed that viewership virtually always went up for every minute up until midnight Eastern time. So, he realized that he was fighting a losing battle.

It's a common complaint that games start too late (and I understand it personally), but the ratings data continue to show that networks obtain maximum viewership with those later start times. The early start times are actually the killers for ratings because you're minimizing the audience at the beginning the games, which creates a lower audience floor.

Yep. Every weekday 7PM start is a 4PM start on the west coast when folks are still at work. Those games are over by the time many get home. A 10PM ETZ start is perfect for the west coast, and as much as it sucks for me because I don't stay up late, enough people on the east coast do stay up to make it worthwhile for the network.

I would push the entire season back so that it did not start until December and structure March madness to start later and take a weak off around the Masters.

(03-30-2021 05:33 PM)Statefan Wrote:  I would push the entire season back so that it did not start until December and structure March madness to start later and take a weak off around the Masters.

yeah. That ain't happening.

(03-30-2021 06:42 PM)stever20 Wrote:  

(03-30-2021 05:33 PM)Statefan Wrote:  I would push the entire season back so that it did not start until December and structure March madness to start later and take a weak off around the Masters.

yeah. That ain't happening.

Probably not. But it isn't all that outrageous except for tradition. You'd have to give up the March Madness theme, but competition from other sports isn't as daunting as it might seem.

Let's say you schedule the playin games for the week of the Masters, with all games starting at night. Tuesday/Wednesday games don't conflict with the golf at all, and Thursday/Friday games start after most of the golf is finished for the day. On that schedule, the tournament finishes around May 1. The Kentucky Derby is a week later.

The Stanley Cup playoffs typically start right after Derby week. The first round of the NBA playoffs would start after the round of 32, so they would conflict with the Sweet Sixteen and Elite 8. The second round wouldn't start until after the Final Four.

You could start the college season right after most schools' final exams in mid-December and fit everything in. Again, unlikely, but not impossible.

How deep into spring sports would it bleed?

The UCLA game should have been the late game instead of the Michigan game. Michigan is eastern timezone so there game starts at 10 pm their time. I live in the central timezone and hate it when college football games start after 7 because they getting close to 4 hours now. I couldn't imagine being a Wolverine fan and watching a game that tipped off at 10 pm eastern and have work the next day.

(03-31-2021 09:37 AM)kevinwmsn Wrote:  The UCLA game should have been the late game instead of the Michigan game. Michigan is eastern timezone so there game starts at 10 pm their time. I live in the central timezone and hate it when college football games start after 7 because they getting close to 4 hours now. I couldn't imagine being a Wolverine fan and watching a game that tipped off at 10 pm eastern and have work the next day.

The UCLA game WAS the Michigan game. But you are correct it would have made more sense for USC/Gonzaga to be the late game.

(03-30-2021 01:54 PM)Erictelevision Wrote:  If we pushed the 1st 2 weekends to F-M, I'd have tines as:

R64: Noon/2:30/6:00/8:30
T32: 2/4/7/9
Sweet 16: 7/9
Elite 8: 4:30/8

It would ensure people can get to bed at reasonable hour on work/school nights

JC..... CBS is will never give up millions to play an Elite 8 game at 4:30pm Eastern.

It would be on Sunday afternoon

I like what they did this year moving the Sweet Sixteen weekend Saturday to Tuesday. Only two evening games on Monday and Tuesday, end right around 9pm Pacific, which works for 90% of America. (1) Having all eight Sweet Sixteen games on TV on the weekend is fantastic, as I finally get to see all that round rather than just a couple games, sometimes only one when working.

They really don't need four venues for the Sweet Sixteen, two will do. Each could have two games on Saturday and Sunday and one on Monday and Tuesday.

The other Alternative would be a single venue for the Elite 8 and play two games on Tuesday and Wednesday to allow travel, then two on Saturday and the Championship on Monday. It's a bit more compact and needs fewer sites.

The big issue I see is that the NCAA sells hosting sites. These approaches reduce the number of hosting sites by two, and that might reduce revenue. Ultimately that is more important.

Notes:
(1) The networks have long figured out the maximum audience for night games with the NFL. They know they will lose 10% of the population, mostly on the East coast, who have to go to bed no later than 11pm. But they make up for it with the 20% of the population in the West which fits in nicely to their schedule. For the West, the first half of the first game can be problematic due to traffic and dinner overlap. The Networks know that, have calculated and set the times for max audience.

Well, my guess is that we got our answer on whether the powers that be would want to change the schedule:

https://www.sportsmediawatch.com/2021/03...ing-shift/

This year had the 2 least watched Elite Eight games ever and all 4 games were among the 6 least watched ever for this round. The Michigan - Florida State Sweet Sixteen game from Sunday night (which is an Elite Eight time slot in a normal year) had a higher rating than any of the Elite Eight games.

Doesn’t seem like a great set of numbers to support a permanent shift in the schedule.

TBH: I prefer the old schedule, so I'm old with them oing back.