For ESPN, eight (hundred million dollars) was enough.
Sports Business Daily reports that ESPN offered the NCAA an average of $800 million per year over 14 years for rights to the NCAA Tournament.
While that is an increase over the $710 million the NCAA would earn annually over the next three years if it remained in its current contract with CBS, it is also short of the $840 million/year that CBS and Turner are offering in their own proposed 14-year deal.
Earlier Friday, Sports Business Daily reported that ESPN was unwilling to increase its bid, making CBS and Turner the front runners to acquire the rights to the event.
