By: David Andrews

The NCAA Final Four has been CBS's pinnacle program since 1982. For the last 21 years, the network has owned exclusive coverage of the final games of NCAA division one basketball and all 65 games of the tournament and only allowed ESPN to broadcast select opening round games. Much like NCAA football, the collegiate sport has gained so much publicity that the tournament itself has blossomed into a cash cow for the NCAA, CBS, and for many companies who look to capitalize on its gargantuan advertising opportunities.

Each year, technology advances more than the previous year, and with it, the opportunity to promote. At the end of the 20th century, TV producers transcended into the new millennium by offering games to be shown in high resolution on HDTVs. Companies that developed high definition technology, such as Sony and Vizio, took this as an incentive to manufacture and market more of their televisions with HD ability. In the late 2000's, AT&T Wireless became a principle sponsor along with Apple, as owners of the iPhone could buy premium coverage of the tournament by offering games to be broadcast through an application that was sold by Apple, Inc.

As the tournament grew in popularity, CBS started coining and marketing nicknames for the tournament, such as "March Madness," as "March Madness on demand" became available for subscribers of any cable provider. That being said, by 2010, all games were available with a cable description on demand, moving away from coverage of local-interest and higher ranked teams to equal coverage for people with a paid subscription. Within the last three to four years, CBS has moved away from focusing just on the final four itself, but instead started marketing all CBS-broadcasted NCAA basketball games as part of "The Road to the Final Four," which promoted the final tournament as being the end of the road of a half a year long push for coverage. By simply changing the name of their programming, CBS increased coverage and advertisement because they could easily segway into a push for the final games, even for games played in early December.

Eleven years after the innovative expansion into the HD world, it was announced on March 9, 2010 that fans could watch all games in 3D if they paid the right price. "This puts us in the 3D game," Ken Aagaard, EVP operations and engineering for sportsvideo.org said, referring to the obsession of movie and television producers in America with venturing into the 3D age (Kerschbaumer, 2010). "It's still an experiment for us but it's the kind of thing we want to try and see how it works" (Kerschbaumer, 2010). The NCAA, LG Electronics, and Cinedigm Digital Cinema Corp. all teamed up with CBS to provide their costumers with intensive monthly coverage of one of the most annually watched championship runs in all of sports.

HDTV, on demand, iPhone apps and 3D broadcasting might have only been yearly gimmicks to provide viewers with the most coverage, but this year, there is no gimmick. HDTV is now a staple in all facets of television beyond just sports and most viewers have subscriptions that give them far beyond basic cable, making on demand a common product. For the first time in the 73-year history of the tournament, all 68 games (which in itself has expanded) will be broadcast on basic cable networks, including CBS, TBS, TNT and truTV. CBS Sports signed a $10.8 billion deal with Turner Broadcasting Inc. that will give TV, Internet and wireless rights to both TV giants. Originally, ESPN was the frontrunner with CBS Sports for the deal, but ESPN reportedly backed down from the deal, passing up on close to $11 million. ESPN took similar measures to secure all 2011 BCS championship games for NCAA football in 2010 from Fox Sports after they thought it was appropriate to show the championship games for a league they controlled coverage of all season. Unlike the recent deal with CBS Sports for basketball, ESPN succeeded in buying out Fox Sports for outright control for BCS games.

Jim Williams, a blogger for WashingtonExaminer.com explained, "CBS Sports and Turner Sports will present fully integrated game and studio productions across all four networks throughout the tournament, utilizing universal graphics, musical beds, unique camera angles and an integrated talent line-up" (Williams, 2011). As is the trending landscape for all majorly broadcasted sports in America, every imaginable piece of the broadcast is corporately sponsored. The telecasts will provide "The Road to the Final Four," a CBS-trademarked phrase for their pregame show, the "Infinity Tip-off," the "AT&T At the Half" and "Inside March Madness (also trademarked) presented by Buic" for postgame coverage.

Aside from the mouth-watering companies looking to pounce on advertising opportunities, the schools themselves receive favorable benefits for reaching the Final Four. In an article written in 2009 for the Louisville Cardinal, Kara Augustine stated, "Last year [2008], credits were worth $206,020, and the Big East had accumulated the most, 79, totaling $19.4 million. Divided among its 16 schools, each one received $1.2 million. Meanwhile, each Big 12 school received about $1.4 million" (Augustine, 2009). Augustine goes on to say that schools benefit just from schools advancing and representing the conference since the money goes to the conference and is then divided by the number of schools. Augustine points out that marketing and advertising pays the bills in the end, for the NCAA heavily relies on the tournament to bring in over 90% of its income. "For the NCAA in 2007-08, the television and marketing rights fees accounted for 97.21 percent of their yearly budget revenue" (Augustine, 2009).

The NCAA tournament will continue to expand coverage and find ways to incorporate a larger audience in their package. It captivates viewers and fans for over a month while it brings in multi-million dollar checks to corporations who continue to cash in the tournament's advertising opportunities.

(This blog was originally posted on February 23, 2011 on Penn State's Comm412 Class Blog
http://www.personal.psu.edu/ojs5008/blogs/comm_412_group_blog/blog/)