I got this info from the WorkInSports.com newsletter this week:

With the NCAA Tournament heading into the Final Four, the players and coaches have achieved a goal that will be the accent of their basketball careers. UConn-Duke is the marquee national semifinal. Many are offering that the rematch of the 1999 championship game is the de facto title game this year. But remember, Georgia Tech has beaten both Duke and UConn during the season, and Oklahoma State is perfectly capable of beating either team. It should be an amazing finish.

It's interesting to note that the average revenue of the 65 teams that participated in this year's tournament is $2.3 (millions). The basketball program with the highest revenue this season was Louisville that grossed over $14.6. They were just ahead of the University of Arizona that brought in excess of $14.2. At the bottom of the revenue scale is Central Florida that only managed to bring in $161,157.

Surprisingly, the participating teams in the tournament receive very little money despite a deal that sees CBS pay the NCAA $565 million for the rights to broadcast the tournament. That money is actually distributed to the various athletic conferences whose teams compete in the tournament. It appears that advertisers are getting their monies worth this year as the average ratings for the first four days of the Tournament were up 53 percent from last year. That four-day average is the best since 2000.

I don't think today's college athletes should be paid salaries like professionals, but at the same time I think they as individuals need to have some sort of fund that can pay out equally to students in need. This fund could be fed by the TV contracts for the NCAAs and the BCS - and it would be large enough to fund every athlete in the NCAA, at least with a minimum stipend of sorts that's bigger than the pittance they're now able to receive. I think you'd see that underhanded money deals would leave the recruiting picture, and there might also be a possibility of young talent staying in school - perhaps able to take out insurance against future athletic potential.

Just thinking, after seeing how much $$$ is changing hands and how little of it is actually going to the folks putting on The Show.
- posted by Rick @ 09:04