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Long read if interested: Money Madness: Where does men’s college basketball and NCAA Tournament fit into a football-crazed ecosystem?
-> Over the course of the past three years, in which football-driven realignment and money grabs have sent the collegiate ecosystem into a topsy-turvy fight, men’s college basketball persists as a sinewy secondary character in a melodrama that feels as much “The Young and the Restless” as “Succession.”
But where exactly does that leave the sport and tournament that captures millions of viewers each spring?
It’s complicated.
The economics of college sports have changed dramatically in the past decade. College football has become an even bigger monetary behemoth, dwarfed only by the NFL in the American sports landscape. Women’s basketball, for its efforts, also has experienced exponential growth. The NCAA’s recent $920 million media rights deal with ESPN — heavily rooted in the value of the women’s tournament — is proof of such. But where men’s basketball was once a crucial economic driver for high-major schools, its impact on bottom lines has changed significantly compared to the outsized necessity for football success.
College sports are replete with questions about the future — employment status; collective bargaining; transfer portal; name, image and likeness; a potential SEC-Big Ten breakaway, etc. The combination of these generational shifts occurring all at once has the entire enterprise in a pretzel. <-
-> Over the course of the past three years, in which football-driven realignment and money grabs have sent the collegiate ecosystem into a topsy-turvy fight, men’s college basketball persists as a sinewy secondary character in a melodrama that feels as much “The Young and the Restless” as “Succession.”
But where exactly does that leave the sport and tournament that captures millions of viewers each spring?
It’s complicated.
The economics of college sports have changed dramatically in the past decade. College football has become an even bigger monetary behemoth, dwarfed only by the NFL in the American sports landscape. Women’s basketball, for its efforts, also has experienced exponential growth. The NCAA’s recent $920 million media rights deal with ESPN — heavily rooted in the value of the women’s tournament — is proof of such. But where men’s basketball was once a crucial economic driver for high-major schools, its impact on bottom lines has changed significantly compared to the outsized necessity for football success.
College sports are replete with questions about the future — employment status; collective bargaining; transfer portal; name, image and likeness; a potential SEC-Big Ten breakaway, etc. The combination of these generational shifts occurring all at once has the entire enterprise in a pretzel. <-
