The NCAA has "abandoned the game footage and crowd
shots that have been a hallmark of previous ad campaigns in
favor of humorous" TV spots via IN-based Caldwell Van Riper/
MARC that are airing on this year's tournament coverage on
CBS, according to Courtenay Edelhart of the INDIANAPOLIS
STAR. The slogan, "If it happens to my team, it happens to
me. NCAA Basketball. Who's your team?," that was used for
last year's "fairly traditional spots," returns this year.
In one of the new spots, a doctor performing an ultrasound
is distracted by a basketball game on TV. In another, a
school girl is "writing over and over on the blackboard that
she won't watch NCAA basketball on her mini TV in class,
even as she listens to a radio broadcast on a hidden
earphone." In a third spot, a security guard "watches a
game while ignoring fighting ninjas, stampeding goats and
other chaos captured on his neglected security monitors."
NCAA Dir of Broadcast Services Jo Jo Rinebold: "We wanted to
show more of what the college basketball fan feels when
they're fanatically following a team." Rinebold declined to
reveal the cost of the spots, but said that the NCAA "spent
more this year than last." The NCAA's deals with CBS
Sports, ESPN, ESPN2 and DirecTV "require[s]" the PSAs to be
"carried during prime game time slots" (INDY STAR, 3/18).
MARK-ING TERRITORY: USA TODAY reports that businesses
in Final Four-host Indianapolis "must follow rigorous
guidelines to capitalize on the fervor" as part of the
NCAA's "vigorous efforts to protect trademark terminology,"
including the terms Final Four, March Madness and Big Dance.
The NCAA has asked the city to "enforce a downtown 'clean
zone,'" which "means no street vendors, strict enforcement
of unlicensed product sales and no hanging signs or banners
-- unless they're the $50-a-pop, NCAA-sanctioned ones sold
by the Final Four committee" (USA TODAY, 3/20).
STIPENDS EXAMINED: On ABC's "World News Tonight"
Friday, Aaron Brown examined NCAA rules, which "allow
coaches unlimited salaries and endorsement deals," but don't
allow "players to get any cash from their schools at all."
Duke Univ. AD Joe Alleva: "[The athletes] get the right to
travel all over the country, see great sights, stay in great
hotels and get a great education. So, I believe they kind
of do get paid already" ("World News Tonight," ABC, 3/17).
