betED.com - The View from the Couch - by Gavin McDougald!
March 19th, 2008 - Money Madness
Everyone points to the Super Bowl as being the big daddy of all moneyed sporting events. However, even considering the colossal economic impact it has on the U.S. economy, it is a poor second to the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament.
Ya wanna talk money? Forget the pros.
From a wagering point of view, what begins Thursday at 11:55am ET is as if an entire NFL football season was crammed into sixteen days. Last March, Nevada bettors wagered more than $228 million on the tournament and with online and office pools, hundreds of millions, if not billions more.
Just how big has it gotten? One survey this week has forty-eight percent of all U.S. employees participating in an NCAA pool at work this year. Almost half of the American working force is consumed by a basketball tournament.
And there are still questions about how America could go into recession?
According to another study, based on the time millions of workers take filling out brackets and checking out games results online, the 16 days of the tourney could cost America's employers $1.7 billion in lost productivity.
$1.7 billion. That?s a big number.
The problem is, those pencil necks based their results on some weirdly conservative numbers: 28.3 million to 37.3 million participants taking a total of 10 minutes on their brackets and results.
Try twice as many players. And only ten minutes? More like ten hours.
First off, who has ever filled out their bracket in ten minutes? This year it?s going to take at least that amount of time to figure out that Stephen Austin is actually a school and not the $6-million man.
Second, dozens of games are streamed online live for all to see during working hours. With half of America?s employed trying to get the broadband stream all at once, that ten minutes will be taken up by just loading the site.
So forget $1.7 billion. With enough nail biting finishes and triple overtime games ? all those lost man-hours could drive the U.S. into a full-fledged depression.
Yet, what we are all drooling over isn?t only about big money from and for the poolies.
Tournament sites rake it in as well, taking in about $15-20 million in hotel room and restaurant revenues.
The schools are also in the money. Before the George Mason University Patriots made their Cinderella run to the Final Four two years ago, pretty much the only folks who had heard of the Virginia college were Mason?s immediate family.
Now, due to its high profile performance, according to USA Today, admission inquiries have jumped 350%. Active alumni increased by 25%, and the university earned an estimated $667-million in national, regional and local broadcasts.
$667-million. If CBS wanted to make their Road to the Final Four special, really special on Sunday night, instead of having their cameras focused on the players waiting for their team names to be called, they should have put them on the school?s chancellors and presidents.
Octogenarians high-fiving and belly-bumping?
Must see TV.
For CBS, streaming those games online will earn them an estimated $21-million alone. Pile on the money they make from on-demand, regular, cable and digital TV revenues, their take will be an estimated $545 million.
Most of that money goes to the NCAA, who are in the middle of an 11-year rights contract worth $6 billion. They also get all the ticket and merchandise revenues ? and although they don?t reveal how much that brings in, it?s purported to be in the hundreds of millions.
So ? where does all that money go?
Four percent is distributed to athletic programs out of something called the Special Assistance Fund for schools who are not as high profile (like George Mason before 2006). That?s about $12-million.
The other ninety-six percent goes to the teams that did the best in the tournament.
Or in other words, since Cinderellas are so rare, the rich schools and programs just get richer.
The March Madness Tournament could generate over $10-billion dollars of business in 2008.
It?s almost hard to believe that some who are directly involved actually don?t make out like bandits.
The players do get free room and board however.
Cheers - Gavin McDougald - AKA Couch
Bet NCAA Tourney odds at betED.com here!
March 19th, 2008 - Money Madness
Everyone points to the Super Bowl as being the big daddy of all moneyed sporting events. However, even considering the colossal economic impact it has on the U.S. economy, it is a poor second to the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament.
Ya wanna talk money? Forget the pros.
From a wagering point of view, what begins Thursday at 11:55am ET is as if an entire NFL football season was crammed into sixteen days. Last March, Nevada bettors wagered more than $228 million on the tournament and with online and office pools, hundreds of millions, if not billions more.
Just how big has it gotten? One survey this week has forty-eight percent of all U.S. employees participating in an NCAA pool at work this year. Almost half of the American working force is consumed by a basketball tournament.
And there are still questions about how America could go into recession?
According to another study, based on the time millions of workers take filling out brackets and checking out games results online, the 16 days of the tourney could cost America's employers $1.7 billion in lost productivity.
$1.7 billion. That?s a big number.
The problem is, those pencil necks based their results on some weirdly conservative numbers: 28.3 million to 37.3 million participants taking a total of 10 minutes on their brackets and results.
Try twice as many players. And only ten minutes? More like ten hours.
First off, who has ever filled out their bracket in ten minutes? This year it?s going to take at least that amount of time to figure out that Stephen Austin is actually a school and not the $6-million man.
Second, dozens of games are streamed online live for all to see during working hours. With half of America?s employed trying to get the broadband stream all at once, that ten minutes will be taken up by just loading the site.
So forget $1.7 billion. With enough nail biting finishes and triple overtime games ? all those lost man-hours could drive the U.S. into a full-fledged depression.
Yet, what we are all drooling over isn?t only about big money from and for the poolies.
Tournament sites rake it in as well, taking in about $15-20 million in hotel room and restaurant revenues.
The schools are also in the money. Before the George Mason University Patriots made their Cinderella run to the Final Four two years ago, pretty much the only folks who had heard of the Virginia college were Mason?s immediate family.
Now, due to its high profile performance, according to USA Today, admission inquiries have jumped 350%. Active alumni increased by 25%, and the university earned an estimated $667-million in national, regional and local broadcasts.
$667-million. If CBS wanted to make their Road to the Final Four special, really special on Sunday night, instead of having their cameras focused on the players waiting for their team names to be called, they should have put them on the school?s chancellors and presidents.
Octogenarians high-fiving and belly-bumping?
Must see TV.
For CBS, streaming those games online will earn them an estimated $21-million alone. Pile on the money they make from on-demand, regular, cable and digital TV revenues, their take will be an estimated $545 million.
Most of that money goes to the NCAA, who are in the middle of an 11-year rights contract worth $6 billion. They also get all the ticket and merchandise revenues ? and although they don?t reveal how much that brings in, it?s purported to be in the hundreds of millions.
So ? where does all that money go?
Four percent is distributed to athletic programs out of something called the Special Assistance Fund for schools who are not as high profile (like George Mason before 2006). That?s about $12-million.
The other ninety-six percent goes to the teams that did the best in the tournament.
Or in other words, since Cinderellas are so rare, the rich schools and programs just get richer.
The March Madness Tournament could generate over $10-billion dollars of business in 2008.
It?s almost hard to believe that some who are directly involved actually don?t make out like bandits.
The players do get free room and board however.
Cheers - Gavin McDougald - AKA Couch
Bet NCAA Tourney odds at betED.com here!
