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NCAA Expands to 68 and inks a deal

by Prez Ro
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INDIANAPOLIS -- The NCAA hopes to expand the men's basketball tournament from 65 to 68 teams beginning next year, and announced a new, $10.8 billion broadcasting deal with CBS and Turner Broadcasting on Thursday that will allow every game to be shown live for the first time.

The three-team expansion is much more modest than 80- and 96-team proposals the NCAA outlined just a few weeks ago at the Final Four. The move coincides with the new, 14-year broadcasting arrangement that interim NCAA president Jim Isch said will provide an average of $740 million to its conferences and schools each year.

"It was a goal from the very, very beginning, and I believe it's what our memberships want and it's what our fans want across the country," 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."

The NCAA said the Division I Men's Basketball Committee unanimously passed the proposal and it will be reviewed by the Board of Directors next Thursday.

"We are very comfortable with 68, that's what the deal is based on and it meets all our financial needs and programming needs," said Sean McManus, president of CBS News and Sports.

The men's tournament last expanded in 2001, adding one team to the 64-team field that was set in 1985. Talk of tweaking March Madness again generated a lot of chatter from fans worried the competition would be watered down and those who feared the additional bracket guesswork needed to predict a winner.

Any move hinged on the NCAA's $6 billion, 11-year television deal with CBS Sports, which has broadcast championship games since 1982. The deal, signed in 1999, had a mutual opt-out until July 31, and the NCAA took it amid speculation that ESPN might become a partner in one of the most popular and lucrative tournaments in sports.

"We made an aggressive bid and believe our combination of TV distribution, digital capabilities, season-long coverage and year-round marketing would have served the interests of the NCAA and college fans very well," ESPN said in a statement. "We remain committed to our unparalleled coverage of more than 1,200 men's and women's college basketball games each season."

The NCAA's agreement with CBS and Atlanta-based Turner Broadcasting System Inc. runs from 2011 through 2024. It means every game next March will be shown live -- on CBS, TBS, TNT or truTV -- for the first time in the tournament's 73-year history.

Next year, everything through the second round will be shown nationally on the four networks. CBS and Turner, an entity of Time Warner Inc., will split coverage of the regional semifinal games, while CBS will retain coverage of the regional finals, the Final Four and the championship game through 2015.

Beginning in 2016, coverage of the regional finals will be split by CBS and Turner; the Final Four and the championship game will alternate every year between CBS and TBS. Under the agreement, the NCAA and CBSSports.com will again provide live streaming video of games, although Turner secured rights for any video player it develops.

"This is a landmark deal for Turner Broadcasting and we're extremely pleased to begin a long-term relationship with the NCAA and our partners at CBS and to have a commitment that extends well into the next decade," said David Levy, president of sales, distribution and sports for Turner Broadcasting.

Some fans may find themselves scrambling to find their favorite teams, though.

McManus acknowledged late Thursday afternoon that if Kentucky, for instance, has a game scheduled on truTV, it won't be shown on CBS -- even in the team's home city.

How critical is the deal to the NCAA? More than 95 percent of the governing body's total revenue comes from the broadcast rights to the men's basketball tournament.

And it clearly was important to New York-based CBS. McManus said the "new strategic partnership" was a core asset and a profitable one, although he hinted that the annual payments of $700 million over the last three years of the original deal were a load.

"We were prepared to do the last three years of the current deal; it was no secret that those three years would be very challenging," he said. "But this deal was based on the NCAA coming to us saying that we would like a new deal in place."

A 96-team field likely would have enveloped the 32-team NIT, the NCAA's other, independently run season-ending tournament.

Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith, the incoming tournament committee chair, was ecstatic that he wouldn't have to manage a 96-team field.

"It was thought that 96 teams would generate more money to support the NCAA's many sports and initiatives," Smith said. "But we were all able to come to an understanding that gives us the support without adding that many teams."

The proposal is strictly for the men's tournament. Another NCAA committee is looking at whether to expand the women's tournament or keep it in the current format.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

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