Cincinnati men’s basketball coach Mick Cronin said that “ticket sales, not wins or losses, are primarily behind how teams get seeded in the NCAA tournament,” according to C.L. Brown of ESPN.com. Cronin said, “I'm a firm believer in that the NCAA tournament committee and everything is so financially driven that no matter what is said on that (Selection) Sunday, they're trying to sell tickets.” He added, “You may get moved on a seed line. And it may not be us, but teams could get moved around from 4 to a 5 or a 8-9 to a 7-10 to get that pod to sell more tickets. Now nobody will admit that, because it's all about the student-athletes -- supposedly. But it's a business.” Brown noted the “bulk of the NCAA windfall, which is shared with conferences, comes from television deals, not ticket sales” (ESPN.com, 3/2). Cronin said that it is “not just basketball that he is talking about.” Cronin said, “If it wasn’t a business we’d be able to have a bus trip in the conference we play in. And that goes for our women’s soccer team and our men’s team. We don’t have a bus trip, so don’t tell me it’s not all about money. That’s why you could throw all that stuff out” (CINCINNATI ENQUIRER, 3/3).
MUST SEE TV: ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt touched on Cronin's comments in a conversation with basketball analyst Jeff Goodman and said the NCAA Tourney is "above all else" a "television show." Van Pelt: "With that in mind, how much do potential matchups for a television show impact seeding?" Goodman said, "The fact of the matter is if those guys are in the room and they’re able to move something around without making wholesale changes to create a better matchup for TV, they do it” (“SportsCenter,” ESPN, 3/3).
