NCAA expands tourney by 3 teams

Associated Press

INDIANAPOLIS

The NCAA has decided not to mess around too much with March Madness.

College sports’ largest governing body announced a 14-year, $10.8 billion deal with CBS and Turner Broadcasting on Thursday that will begin with an expanded men’s basketball tournament next March. But instead of jumping to a 96-team field, a possibility that drew criticism from bracket-obsessed fans to coaches, the NCAA plans to expand by only three teams, from 65 to 68.

Every game will be broadcast live nationally for the first time in the tournament’s 73-year history.

“It was a goal from the very, very beginning. I believe it’s what our membership wanted, and it’s what our fans wanted across the country,” NCAA interim president Jim Isch said. “I think without question, it was one of the driving factors in our position and why CBS and Turner make such great partners.”

Striking a balance was a challenge for NCAA officials.

The previous television deal, which gave CBS Sports the broadcast rights for $6 billion over 11 years, would have expired in three years. Both sides had opt-out clauses that had to be exercised by July 31, and the NCAA was preparing to do just that. The hope was to create a bidding war and strike a lucrative deal, generating more money for NCAA payouts to schools.

CBS Sports won the war, beating out at least an offer from ESPN. What’s new is that CBS will share broadcast rights with Atlanta-based Turner Broadcasting System Inc. and its stable of cable channels — TNT, TBS and truTV — from 2011 through 2024.

The NCAA won, too: Isch said the new deal will provide an average of $740 million per year that will returned to conferences and schools.