Could this year’s NCAA Tournament be the next-to-last on CBS?
CNBC’s Darren Rovell reports that the NCAA can opt out of its 11-year deal with CBS at the end of the 2010 NCAA Tournament. Currently, the NCAA receives $545 million per year from CBS, compared to $560 million for NASCAR, $930 million for the NBA and $3.7 billion for the collossus of sports, the NFL.
Tthe NCAA says that there are no imminent plans to opt out of the CBS deal, with one official telling CNBC that “there?s nothing to offer regarding our plans going forward.” Still, it would not be surprising if the NCAA opted out to get a better deal — especially considering that other sports have seen annual television rights fees skyrocket while the rights fees for the NCAA Tournament have remained stagnant.
And if the NCAA does opt out, look for cable network ESPN to jump into the fray. In November, the NCAA and ESPN inked a deal for rights to the Bowl Championship Series for $125 million per year, up 50% from the previous deal with FOX. Should the rights become available, do not be surprised if ESPN makes a strong enough bid to snatch March Madness away from CBS.
In today’s television landscape, the NCAA Tournament is an anomaly — an all-broadcast event. Only the NFL Playoffs shares that distinction. The current television deal between the NCAA and CBS was signed in 1999, when Monday Night Football was still on ABC, both MLB League Championship Series were still on network television, and the NBA had triple-headers on NBC — an era as bygone as that of the DuMont network or cigarette commericals. Add to that the fact that the NCAA Tournament has drawn near record low ratings multiple times this decade, and it may be more unlikely than anything that CBS pay more for the event, much less keep the rights at all.
But all of this may be premature. The economy may provide an incentive for the NCAA to stay with its current CBS deal, set to run through 2014. Should the economic climate worsen, any potential suitors may find the prospect of paying more for NCAA Tournament rights to be pure madness.
Source: Fang’s Bites.
