To the collection of postseason tournaments that exist in the shadow of March Madness and use three-letter abbreviations, let’s add the CBC.
But the inaugural College Basketball Crown differs from both the NIT and the CBI in three notable regards:
— The 16-team field is heavy on Pac-12 legacy schools with USC, Utah, Arizona State, Colorado, Washington State and Oregon State committed to participate.
— It will be played the week between the Elite Eight and the Final Four, with all games in Las Vegas at the MGM Grand Garden Arena and T-Mobile Arena.
— Fox is heavily involved, not only as the broadcast network of record but also as a founding partner (along with the Anschutz Entertainment Group).
And if Fox is involved, that means the Big Ten and Big 12 are involved.
And if the Big Ten and the Big 12 are involved, the event is relevant to college basketball’s future postseason structure.
“We are doing this to be disruptors,” Fox Sports executive vice president Jordan Bazant said late last year at a college sports forum in Las Vegas sponsored by the Sports Business Journal.
“But one big difference about our disruption is that it’s incremental and additive.”
Some might disagree, for the College Basketball Crown poses a direct and serious threat to the 87-year-old NIT.
Before launching the event, Fox secured commitments from the Big Ten, Big 12 and Big East, with each conference agreeing to send two of its best teams not headed to March Madness. That instantly undercut the pool of participants for the NIT.
Another difference: The CBC is more cost-effective than the NIT.
It offers NIL (name, image and likeness) money, with $300,000 available to the winning team and smaller cuts for the runner-up and semifinalists. And because the CBC is played in Las Vegas over the course of a single week, travel is easier and cheaper.
“Unlike the NIT, you’re not bouncing from venue to venue,” Big East commissioner Val Ackerman said at the college sports forum. “It’s positive for cost reasons.
“The exposure Fox is offering is terrific. We have been in business with Fox since 2013, and Fox has been an amazing partner. We trust them. We know they create great experiences.”
Strategically, the event represents an expansion of Fox’s college sports portfolio. The network has built out an impressive lineup of Friday night football games with the Big Ten and Big 12 to complement its Saturday lineup, and it airs college basketball regular-season games.
But CBS and Turner own the broadcast rights to the men’s NCAA Tournament while ESPN has the women’s version and the NIT.
“We were looking at our long-term collegiate strategy, and we had some holes,” Bazant said. “One area that was a hole was a time when awareness and excitement for college basketball are the greatest: after the conference tournaments.”
Of the broader landscape, Bazant noted: “College sports is very dynamic, but the college basketball postseason has been very static and an area that really needed to evolve.”
Static? Perhaps.
Desperate for clarity and direction? Definitely.
In the past few years, the NCAA has taken operational control of the NIT, the College Insider Tournament (CIT) has been canceled and the power conferences have discussed expanding the NCAAs.
Just two weeks ago, in fact, Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark addressed what would be the first major change to March Madness in 40 years.
“I’m in favor of expansion to 76,” Yormark said at the Big 12 tournament in Kansas City. “I think that’s the right number.”
Drill down, and you can spot a connection: Fox’s top basketball properties, the Big Ten and Big 12, are participating in a new postseason tournament while concurrently pushing to expand the NCAAs.
Now, the Hotline doesn’t typically engage in conspiracy theories. But it’s not difficult to envision a world in which the College Basketball Crown thrives over time — thanks to exposure and financial support from Fox — and the power conferences grow increasingly frustrated with the NCAAs.
They attempt to expand the event and (potentially) change the revenue distribution model, but NCAA headquarters and the other 300 Division I schools resist.
At some point, could the frustration compel the power leagues to use a thriving College Basketball Crown as an escape vehicle? As a viable alternative to the NCAAs? (The current media contract expires after the 2032 event.)
If that seems brazen, don’t forget: The Big Ten and SEC used the threat of forming their own football postseason event as a means of seizing control of the College Football Playoff governance structure.
In theory, the Crown could serve the same function.
That said, the event has not been viewed or used as a source of leverage to this point, according to an industry source.
But the dynamics are fluid across college sports as the Power Four prepare for the revenue-sharing era and seek new pots of cash to support operations.
It’s the perfect environment for a seemingly innocuous one-week tournament tucked between rounds of the NCAAs — but backed by one of the most powerful entities in college sports — to eventually morph into the ultimate negotiating chip.
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