The NCAA announced a new 14-year television, internet and wireless rights agreement with CBS Sports and Turner Broadcasting System to present the Division I Men's Basketball Championship beginning in 2011 through 2024 for more than $10.8 billion.
As part of the agreement, all games will be shown live across four national networks beginning in 2011 - a first for the 73-year old championship. Additionally, CBS Sports and Turner Broadcasting have been licensed and will collaborate on the NCAA's corporate marketing program.
The NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Committee unanimously passed a recommendation to the Division I Board of Directors to increase tournament field size to 68 teams beginning with the 2011 Championship. The recommendation will be reviewed by the Division I Board of Directors at its April 29 meeting.
The new agreement sustains the long-term financial stability of the Association. As with the current contract, approximately 96 percent of the revenue generated from this new agreement will be used to benefit student-athletes through either programs, services or direct distribution to member conferences and schools. Further, the agreement ensures student-athletes across all three NCAA divisions will continue to be supported in a broad range of championship opportunities, access to funds for personal and educational needs, and through scholarships in Divisions I and II.
Beginning with the 2011 championship, opening-, first- and second-round games will be shown nationally on CBS, TBS, TNT and truTV. CBS and Turner will split coverage of the regional semi-final games. CBS will provide coverage of the regional finals, as well as the Final Four including the National Championship Game through 2015. Beginning in 2016, coverage of the regional finals will be split by CBS and Turner with the Final Four and the National Championship game alternating every year between the CBS Television Network and Turner's TBS.
CBS Sports has broadcast the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship since 1982. This year's broadcast of the Championship game earned an average national household rating/share of 14.2/23, up 31 percent from a 10.8/18 last year, the highest rating in five years.
'This is an important day for intercollegiate athletics and the 400,000 student-athletes who compete in NCAA sports,' said NCAA Interim President Jim Isch. 'This agreement will provide on average more than $740 million annually to our conferences and member schools to help student-athletes in 23 sports learn and compete.'
'This agreement with our colleagues at Turner and the NCAA secures CBS's standing as a year-round leader in sports television well into the next decade,' said Sean McManus, president of CBS News and Sports.
'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, Turner Broadcasting System. 'The NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament has a rich tradition and is one of the most talked about sporting events every year highlighted by the Final Four and the National Championship Game.
Moving forward under the new contract, a committee headed by Harvey Perlman, University of Nebraska-Lincoln chancellor, will study and recommend prospective revenue distribution formulas to the Division I Board of Directors. Under the current contract, 96 percent of all NCAA revenue is returned to membership either in direct payments or in programs and services. The committee will follow principles of the current formula that ensure access to funds by student-athletes for educational, personal and emergency needs; that favor a broad-based approach to sports sponsorship; that continue to encourage more grants-in-aid rather than less; and that promote enhanced academic support of student-athletes.
Additionally, given the NCAA emphasis on academic reform, the committee will examine the need to strike a balance between Division I men's basketball championship performance and academic achievement through either the NCAA's Academic Progress Rate or Graduation Success Rate metrics or both.
ESPN, the long-standing home for NCAA Championships such as the Division I Women's Basketball Championship, College World Series, Frozen Four and others, will continue to broadcast a full complement of events over the coming years as well.
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