March Madness History
March Madness first started in 1939 and quickly became a premier sporting event year-after-year. It is the largest major basketball tournament in the U.S., consisting of six rounds. The first round starts with 64 teams, then dwindles to 32, then they have the Sweet Sixteen, the Elite Eight, the Final 4, and then finally the National Championship game. There are also four games that are played before the tournament that give four additional teams one last chance to make it into the tournament.
March Madness is special because from the start of the college basketball season, teams know they have a chance to win it all. They understand that they can be one of those 68 teams to land on the bracket and from that point on it is a new season. Underdogs have gone on amazing runs in the past and every school knows that this year could be the year they do it. Compare this to a sport like football where most D1 schools realize they have no chance of winning a national championship let alone being selected to the playoffs. Here, each tournament seems to have its own Cinderella story where an underdog makes it to an Elite Eight or Final Four appearance and occasionally, they win it all.
Fan Experience
March Madness is also a fan experience like no other. Whether you are a fan of an underdog team who is thrilled to see your team in the tournament or a casual basketball fan who loves filling out and betting on brackets, the level of fan engagement is massive. Similar to how fantasy sports have increased people’s awareness of teams they are not fans of the March Madness bracket gives fans a personal stake in every single game for the tournament, especially if they have money on the line. The massive number of teams also makes this a fan super event. With other playoffs in sports, you have anywhere from four to twelve teams which creates significant buzz, but when you have 68 schools involved that creates a national craze for the event.
Having a fan experience like this also brings a downside of this tournament into play. One of the issues with the tournament is its exclusivity. It is very difficult to get tickets to the tournament especially when you have multiple games on one ticket. Think about it: you are not just competing with two fan bases, but oftentimes four or six depending on the number of games on a given day.
Sponsorship Ideas + Traditions
There are ways around this though. One way to make this event seem less exclusive would be for schools to host viewing parties and events surrounding their game. This would save fans on travel expenses and create a fun team environment for fans to enjoy from campus. This also allows you another opportunity to sell sponsorship at these events and generate some additional revenue for an on-campus event that will make fans excited for the basketball team.
Traditions play a big part in any sport. One of the most anticipated aspects of March Madness is the “One Shining Moment” segment which is played after the tournament concludes. This segment was originally created for Super Bowl XXI but since the game ran longer than the network had anticipated they could not run it. The network decided to save the segment to play at the end of March Madness in 1987. It has been a staple of March Madness ever since.
To learn more, listen to our latest episode of Knox Talk, here!