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Mike Miller

Mike Miller has been NBCSports.com's college basketball editor since 2003. It's a position he relishes; no wonder considering he transferred to Kansas to watch Paul Pierce play. Most of his favorite sports memories involve college hoops, usually during March, when every waking moment is spent thinking about March Madness.



ESPN wants to bid for March Madness?

Posted: Wednesday, November 04, 2009 8:31 PM
Filed Under: , ,

File this one under unlikely, but interesting enough to talk about.

ESPN says it’d be open in bidding for the rights to March Madness if the NCAA opts out of its 11-year, $6 billion contract with CBS this July.

"We do 1,100 college basketball games a year and they all lead to one thing and that's the NCAA tournament," Burke Magnus, the network’s senior vice president of college sports programming told USA TODAY. "If it were to become available, and fit the definition of a business decision for us, I'm quite certain we'd be interested."

So that’s out there. But it seems unlikely for this reason: Money.

CBS’ contract runs through 2013. By opting out, the NCAA would forego about $2.2 billion. That’s a lotta dimp. And I’m not business expert, but leaving that much money on the table in a recession is risky. I’m sure CBS and ESPN would offer good packages, but would it be in the $2.2 billion range?

(whistles)

Seems smarter to wait until 2013 when the economy is whistling along again and the price tag would be even higher. Hell, the tourney may up to 124 teams by then. Think what the NCAA could charge for that number of games…

Follow me on Twitter (@BeyndArcMMiller) and get more college basketball news at NBCSports.com.

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Comments

Even with the fear of Chris Berman somehow pushing his way into the spotlight for the NCAA Tournament (NFL, MLB, PGA, can we get rid of this idiot?), I think it could be amazing what ESPN/ABC could do with March Madness.  Think about it.  Right now, you get to watch, at best, 3 different games at once (CBS, CW, CBS College)unless you get the DirecTV package.  What about the possibilities with ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN Classic and ABC Family?  Couldn't the worldwide leader make it possible for every game to be shown in its entirety?  I like that possibility.

Jimmy, Lexington (Sent Thursday, November 05, 2009 8:05 AM)



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