Final Four on TNT, Baby!!

Updated: April 16, 2010, 5:27 PM ET
Report: ESPN won't up tourney bid

As the NCAA closes in on an April 29 meeting which could decide whether its men's basketball tournament grows from 65 to 96 teams, ESPN has said it won't increase its current bid to televise the event, the Sports Business Journal reported Friday.

The publication said a 14-year deal averaging $840 million per year has been offered by CBS and Turner Broadcasting and given to the NCAA. It cited several sources "with direct knowledge of the talks."


The Journal reported that ESPN's bid averaged "roughly $800 million per year over 14 years."

ESPN declined comment on the report.

The NCAA must decide whether to continue with the final three years of its original 11-year, $6 billion deal with CBS for the 65-team tournament. The final three years of the backloaded deal are valued at $2.131 billion, a little more than $700 million per year.

If CBS and Turner combine forces to televise a 96-team event, games would likely be on four networks: CBS, TBS, TNT and truTV, the Sports Business Journal reported. CBS and Turner would alternate years televising the Final Four, the publication said. http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=5100441

 

Wait a second. Turner would have the Final Four?

 

TBS, TNT, what other stations do they have?

MLB baseball, NCAA hoops, NBA...

 

Maybe I'm just being a dumbass tonight, but would this be the first major championship to be decided on cable?

 

BCS title game will be on ESPN starting next year.

 

Well ... Fuck. The. NCAA.

Part MMX

 

Depends what you call major.

NCAA baseball, hockey have been on cable, but those are not too major.

Hasn't ESPN televised a final Monday round of a tourney before?

 

Good. Fox blows.

 

For those of us without cable, this is Exhibit MXLVII in the "why the f*$# do sports leagues insist on making their premier events next-to-impossible to watch on broadcast TV WHERE THEY GET THE MOST VIEWERS," therefore shortchanging advertisers but lining Communistcast's pockets.

The same event can go from ABC to ESPN and the ratings will drop 20-30%.

The NCAA would be insane to move its premier event to cable, but the B(C)S set the precedent. In about 5-10 years, we'll see very few sports on broadcast TV despite having 2-3 times as many over-the-air channels as we had a decade ago.

 

What are you, 75 years old?

Cable and satellite have between 80 and 90 percent market penetration and the viewership gap between these and broadcast channels has been shrinking for the last 30 years. These are basic tier channels and therefore won't bust your budget unless you choose out of some principle to remain off cable.

Where else can you watch Matlock?

 

This is the NCAA's last big TV money grab, plain and simple. ESPN couldn't find a partner.

Wait until the Super Bowl is on pay-per-view. It's coming.