CBS and Turner Sports today said that they have extended their joint deal with the NCAA for the men’s basketball tournament another eight years to '32. The additional years are being valued at $8.8B total, or $1.1B per year. That is a big leap from the $771.4M average annual rights fee in the original 14-year contract, which was signed in '10 and runs through '24. Turner and CBS will maintain the same shared financial and programming structure they have had for the first six years of the deal. Turner pays close to 70% of the rights fee.
Talks to extend the deal began in October and were finalized in Houston at the April 2-4 Final Four. “The NCAA tournament has exceeded all of our expectations on every metric,” Turner President David Levy said today. “We’re way ahead of where we thought we’d be six years ago and that’s why we wanted to get this done.” CBS Sports Chair Sean McManus said, "We weren’t going to do a deal unless it was financially responsible and profitable. This is. It certainly is profitable." NCAA President Mark Emmert said the NCAA has been pleased with the way Turner and CBS have jointly presented the tournament.
Read more in our On The Ground blog.
