The 2014 NCAA Final Four will be the first to air on cable, but not the last.
Turner Sports and CBS agreed last year to split the Final Four both this year and next, a compromise that allowed CBS to keep this year’s National Championship Game (a clause in the NCAA TV deal would have allowed Turner to air the title game this year). It is the first time, but far from the last, that the Final Four will air on cable.
Starting in 2016, TBS will have the rights to the entire Final Four every other year — meaning that over the next decade, the national semifinals will air on cable in seven years (2014, 2015, 2016, 2018, 2020, 2022 and 2024), and the title game will air on cable in five (’16, ’18, ’20, ’22 and ’24).
The move of the Final Four to cable is not the result of disinterest on the part of CBS (i.e., the Final Four is not being ‘relegated’ to cable). It is simply the case that without Turner Sports, CBS would not have any NCAA Tournament games. Under the previous TV deal, rights fees for the NCAA Tournament were set to become so onerous that CBS actually considered paying ESPN “to take the 2010 to 2013 tournaments off its hands” (NYT, 5/4/10). If Turner had not joined CBS in a joint bid for NCAA rights, CBS would have been unable to afford to carry the tournament, and ESPN almost certainly would be airing the Final Four next weekend (and every year until 2024).
Since Turner is the only reason CBS still has the NCAA Tournament, and since Turner is footing more than half of the bill, it only makes sense that the Turner networks would get some of the most valuable games. For CBS, a diminished role in the NCAA Tournament is far better than no role at all. CBS still has the title game six more times in this TV deal (2014, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2021 and 2023), and the entire Final Four four more times (’17, ’19, ’21 and ’23).
The Final Four TV Set-Up
2014 and 2015: National Semifinals on TBS, National Championship Game on CBS
2016, 2018, 2020, 2022 and 2024: Entire Final Four on TBS
2017, 2019, 2021 and 2023: Entire Final Four on CBS
