Had an anonymous texter yesterday morning ask how I felt about the NCAA Tournament expanding to 76 teams next season. Let me answer your question with a gif:
Now, I think it’s important to not just bitch about something you don’t like, but to take action against it. If you don’t have any follow through, then you’re just screaming into the void for the sake of screaming into the void.
So here’s what I’m going to do to protest this move that not a single college basketball fan wants: I’m going to watch every second of every game during the tournament next season. I’m going to fill out brackets, I’m going to lose parlays, I’m going to get involved with player props, all of it. Your move, NCAA. You have 24 hours.
Okay in all seriousness, ^THAT is the problem. They know they’ve got us. We don’t want this, but they know we’re going to watch it. We know we’re going to watch it. They know that we know we’re going to watch it. And that’s the only way this gorging on games will ever stop, is if people actually stopped watching. Ratings go down, TV contracts go down, ad revenue goes down. But it won’t. Ratings for the tournament last season were up 8%, and they’ll probably be up again next year. Great ratings and ad revenue drive all of these choices. It’s the reason the tournament is expanding, it’s the reason why the NFL went to 17 games and will eventually go to 18, and the same reason why the B93 Morning Show is getting cut by two hours*. Ratings and ad revenue dictate programming decisions. Always have, always will.
*Relax, Mom. Just making jokes on the internet!
PS: I gasped when I was listening to ESPN radio yesterday and they were talking about this expansion and mentioned that the tournament went from 64 to 68 teams in 2011. TWENTY ELEVEN. I thought the “First Four” had only been around for like 5 seasons. 15 YEARS. Sheesh.
Comments