Greg Sankey says the quiet part via an electrified-bullhorn:

The NCAA won't exist without control of the men's basketball tournament.

Its literally 90+% of the organization's revenue, without it it can't run anything. Not any of the olympic sports tournaments like tennis/swimming/track or anything administrative.

The entire ecosystem of college sports is based on the NCAA taking revenue from the basketball tournament using it to run stuff, take that away and the whole thing collapses.

As much as this is about football unless the power schools want to run their own swim meets and field hockey tournaments, they can't let the NCAA die for political and Title 9 reasons.

(03-14-2024 01:00 PM)ccbfan Wrote:  The NCAA won't exist without control of the men's basketball tournament.

Its literally 90+% of the organization's revenue, without it it can't run anything. Not any of the olympic sports tournaments like tennis/swimming/track or anything administrative.

The entire ecosystem of college sports is based on the NCAA taking revenue from the basketball tournament using it to run stuff, take that away and the whole thing collapses.

As much as this is about football unless the power schools want to run their own swim meets and field hockey tournaments, they can't let the NCAA die for political and Title 9 reasons.

The ecosystem of college sports doesn't collapse. Just the NCAA. Other already existing institutions could step in and run championships in many of the non-revenue sports. Schools are too dependent on maintaining contact with alumni donors to just blow the whole thing up and stop funding athletics. They will find a way.

(03-14-2024 10:49 AM)Frank the Tank Wrote:  Article from Pete Thamel today about the future of the NCAA Tournament:

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basket...ch-madness

To my point about the NCAA Tournament being wildly undervalued, here’s a direct quote from the article:

Quote: The current NCAA tournament multimedia rights deal is considered by many around the television industry as one of the most imprudent financial decisions in the history of major televised sports. At the time, NCAA president Mark Emmert and executive vice president Mark Lewis chose long-term security over maximizing the value of the deal.

"The moment they did that deal, it was already under market," an industry source said. "The NCAA probably knew, but they aren't in the risk-taking business."

The NCAA's decision to extend its television contract in 2016 came with eight years left on the existing deal, which was set to expire after the 2024 NCAA tournament. If the NCAA hadn't extended the contract early, bidding for the next rights deal would have started nearly two years ago amid a ripe market flush with potential cash from streamers looking to get the rights to top-tier sports content.

The current contract doesn’t end until 2032.

Maybe Emmert was effectively creating a type of GOR to keep the P5 in the fold.

(03-14-2024 11:30 AM)MU88 Wrote:  

(03-14-2024 07:53 AM)otown Wrote:  

(03-14-2024 07:32 AM)SkullyMaroo Wrote:  

(03-13-2024 10:59 PM)Renandpat Wrote:  

(03-13-2024 10:04 PM)otown Wrote:  That's crazy. So, does the NCAA give a breakdown of where the hundreds of millions of dollars go that they keep?

Conferences need to chuck that middleman and negotiate directly. 2032 is around the bend, so in 6 to 7 years can start the process.

Those millions pay for the costs to run all of the championships and travel. The FSC football tournament costs the NCAA a lot.

Not only that, but the NCAA pays for the travel related costs for all programs. So when you’re talking basketball they’re paying for travel, hotel, and per diem for the basketball team, cheerleaders, and 30 member pep band.

Easily can be handled by the schools directly without the middleman if they are getting all the basketball profits.

The NCAA runs all sports tournaments for all divisions. Having the money go to the D1 schools means no NCAA, no D2 or D3 championships. Plus, if the majority of the money would go to the power schools, I would also expect a number of schools to bypass the NCAA championships in minor sports. Even if they qualify, do you think Winthrop is going to send its track team to Oregon for the championships? Maybe. Probably not.

Look at it this way, let's say the schools get an extra $400-$500 million, probably less because some of the money has to go to putting on the tournament, for everything from renting venues to paying refs. How do you split it? This is basketball money, so let's split it evenly to all bballl school (Remember, 3 out of 4 of the final four last year were non-P4 schools). With around 350 D1 schools, that means about $1.5 million per school. Do you really think that the added money will cover all travel expenses for all lower D1 sports teams? No chance.

The NAIA has championships. Its just that schools have to pay fees for membership instead of getting money for being in the NCAA. I've never heard of anyone passing up a trip to the championship. The Division II and III schools would just have to be more prudent with their spending if the tourney money stays in Division I.

Now if athletes become employees, that could wipe out athletic departments.