NCAA Weighs Expansion on Eve of Final Four

by Jeremiah Tittle

The NCAA has been considering expanding the tournament beyond 65, and has only a couple of months to determine if opting out of its contract with CBS – making way for another 31 teams to join in on the Madness of March – is indeed a wise decision beyond the financials.

According to ESPN SportsCenter, the NCAA has “walked media through the proposal” to expand the brackets despite the pleas of many who feel the product would be diluted by stretching the 3 week tournament to fit an entire month on the calendar. The debate will continue as the NCAA takes the temperature of the media measuring the public response to the idea floating out there.

Meanwhile, the BCS headed up by Bill Hancock and Ari Fleischer(not that he could help Tiger Woods) look to use some of college basketball’s over pursuit of the almighty dollar (the tournament brings NCAA Basketball 92% of its revenue) as standing for their steadfast tactic of doing nothing. They reject the fans’ demands. They look to use fans’ against each other as a method for spinning the issue. Enough is enough. College football fans want a playoff.

SFC has proven that protecting the integrity of the college athlete is a sham. If that were so, why do the highest ranked college football teams schedule cupcakes mid-season? Why do they pad their schedule with lesser opponents claiming that additional contests at the end of the season could stretch undergrads too thin and would compromise academic endeavors. Talk about dilution! Gimme a break.

The bottom line is that those in power are the benefactors of  the system. The University Presidents want to stay put cashing million dollar paychecks each year ignoring the cries of fans as the system continues to work in their favor.

Andrea Adelson writes in the Orlando Sentinel that this behavior is pure ‘hypocrisy’ to be so closed minded about expansion in one sport in the name of the student athlete while pushing an extra 32 games onto another sport. The left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing, or put more accurately, the one hand that collects paychecks is still demanding more, more, more.

Jeremiah Tittle is Managing Editor of www.SportsFansCoalition.org.