One of last season’s Cincerellas, the Florida Atlantic Owls celebrate after beating Kansas State in the Elite Eight at MSG in more March Madness.Pictures
Take one deep breathing Basketball fans, it’s almost time to shine.
In an offseason dominated by conference realignment – a conversation driven almost entirely by football – hoops season may well serve as a palate cleanser for those fed up with the breakneck changes happening in college sports today .
Still, there are major questions that will need to be answered as the season moves through non-conference games and toward March Madness in five months.
In the midst of one of the most turbulent periods in college sports history, the ship feels like it’s still sailing through a hurricane as basketball arrives this winter with the first regular season games on November 6. These are some questions to watch out for as things happen on the hardwood:
What effect will conference realignment have on major college basketball?
If football was the driving force behind the realignment, basketball will feel the impact sooner rather than later.
For one, this will be the final year of the Pac-12 as we know it. Football is enjoying a renaissance in its swan song campaign. Is basketball next? We will see.
The ACC will also be getting a facelift in the coming years. Cal, SMU and Stanford will enter the league in 2024 as rumors continue to swirl around Clemson, Florida State, North Carolina and Virginia and whether they will all remain in the league long term .
Conference realignment should, at least for now, stabilize. This change is usually linked to media rights negotiations. The SEC, Big 12 and Big Ten all have deals in place, while the ACC deal isn’t done until 2036.
That said, keep an eye on how the situation develops in the coming months.
How could NIL legislation affect basketball?
Again, most of the massive changes in college sports come from football, but the decisions of those on Capitol Hill also matter in the world of basketball.
The hope among college sports decision-makers is that Congress can help streamline name, image and likeness rules and regulations to help alleviate the patchwork – or lack thereof – herein – state laws governing such agreements and works at this time.
Another round of hearings took place in Washington, DC on October 17. The group included, among others, NCAA President Charlie Baker, Big Ten Commissioner Tony Petitti, and Ole Miss Grove Collective leader Walker Jones. Yet the day didn’t exactly inspire confidence that Congress will make a decision on the matter any time soon.
The NCAA has largely thrown up its hands and let schools navigate their way through NIL. Will that change with Baker settling into his presidential role in Indianapolis? We’ll see, but it seems unlikely.
Basketball has also seen its share of turnover in recent years, as NIL becomes an increasingly important part of the game. Roy Williams, Jay Wright and Mike Krzyzewski have all retired. Tom Izzo is still hanging on at Michigan State, but it’s hard to imagine he’ll continue coaching into the next decade.
College sports needs some sort of resolution on NIL. Where this comes from seems to be anyone’s guess.
What will happen to the media rights for the NCAA women’s basketball tournament?
The NCAA women’s basketball tournament is in uncharted territory — in the best way possible.
The 2023 Final Four drew a record 9 million people for the national championship game, as women’s sports across the board continue to see viewership increases. The NCAA, however, has some talking to do when it comes to its next round of media rights negotiations. (See story, page 22.)
ESPN has an exclusive negotiating window with the NCAA that expires in December regarding the women’s tournament. Sources with knowledge of the discussions told Sports Business Journal that the hope is to reach an agreement before that window expires. Otherwise, the deal would be put on the open market.
It also remains to be seen what this package actually includes. It’s possible the NCAA could sell the rights to the women’s tournament individually. Still, the package is expected to incorporate softball, baseball and other sports, rather than lumping them into their own deal.
Will NCAA men’s tournament viewership rebound?
Everybody Loves a Cinderella – except television executives.
The 2023 Final Four has had its share of glass slippers between Florida Atlantic, San Diego State, Miami and UConn. This gives the general public plenty of food during the tournament period. This also contributed to a 14% decline in viewership for the Elite Eight competitions compared to the previous year. The tournament as a whole was also down 6% heading into the Final Four.
Overall trends have shown that television viewership sees an uptick when upsets occur in the early rounds of the NCAAs, but viewers are less likely to tune in to Cinderella teams during the second week of the event .
Some of this is pure luck. After all, only once since the men’s tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985 have all four No. 1 seeds reached the Final Four.
Last year’s event brought many fun storylines. Those in the TV world are hoping this season brings more blue bloods.
