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NCAA Tourney Heads Into Title Game On Positive Note After Strong Final Four Viewership

Competitive matchups and the return of the NCAA Tournament semifinals to CBS for the first time since ‘13 led to a big increase in viewership for this year’s Final Four games. The doubleheader of Gonzaga-South Carolina (early) and North Carolina-Oregon (late) averaged 16.8 million viewers for CBS, up 44% from last year, when TBS/TNT/truTV aired the semifinals. Those matchups last year also were just the third time in 50 years both semifinals were decided by at least 15 points, whereas this year’s matchups were decided by a combined five points. The average of 16.8 million viewers also is the second-best semifinal average since ’98, behind only ’15, when TBS/TNT/truTV also aired the semifinals. When CBS last aired the semifinals in ’13 – featuring Louisville-Wichita State (early) and Michigan-Syracuse (late) -- CBS averaged 15.8 million viewers. The UNC-Oregon game itself averaged 18.8 million viewers, marking the second-best Final Four game audience in 19 years (Austin Karp, Assistant Managing Editor). Fox Sports Exec VP/Research, League Operations & Strategy Michael Mulvihill tweeted the Tourney has "made quite the case for continued power of broadcast TV." Mulvihill: "Happy for all at CBS. Good for us all when the big events connect" (TWITTER.com, 4/2).

SUGGESTION BOX: In N.Y., Phil Mushnick writes CBS continues to "leave important NCAA stories unreported in order to make good news out of no news." Jim Nantz on Saturday only made a "brief mention of the years-long UNC academic scandal that enabled" coach Roy Williams’ successes, including two national championships. Nantz said UNC had been the target of “swirling innuendo.” Mushnick: "No, it hasn’t. Those are swirling facts. UNC maintained players’ eligibility through A’s and B’s in no-show courses" (N.Y. POST, 4/3). In N.Y., Bob Raissman wrote his "Dweeb of the Week" went to the "March Madness Suits." All the commercials during the tournament "featuring hoops voices-analysts, studio hosts, and play-by-play windbags-have become traditions" that see "everybody but the athletes cashing in." Raissman: "Everybody selling something" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 4/2).

COMING INTO HIS OWN: YAHOO SPORTS' Jeff Eisenberg noted when Grant Hill calls his third national title game tonight on CBS, "he’ll do so with the confidence and assertiveness he initially lacked." Hill has "grown more comfortable" with Nantz and Bill Raftery, "found his voice as an analyst and learned when to stay quiet and when to interject." Deferring "too much was one of Hill’s biggest problems when he began," as he was "only comfortable speaking after Raftery had made his points or when either Raftery or Nantz asked him a question." Hill "sometimes sounded more like a guest in the booth who had to be nudged to join the conversation." Eisenberg noted the "off-air chemistry among Nantz, Raftery and Hill revealed itself on air this year during the opening round of the NCAA tournament when a courtside power failure forced them to huddle around a single handheld microphone during the final minute of Michigan’s victory over Oklahoma State" (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 4/2). 

POWER PLAY: SPORTS VIDEO GROUP's Brandon Costa noted CBS Sports Exec VP/Operations & Engineering Patty Power has been a "critical piece of the puzzle over the past seven years" since CBS and Turner partnered to produce the NCAA Tournament. This year she has "taken the helm overseeing the production compound" at Univ. of Phoenix Stadium. Power: "There’s so many good people in place that have been here doing this for so long. Where I’m coming from is trying to find ways to [do] things more effectively.” Costa noted the highlights of this year’s production are the "first live Final Four VR experience and the re-introduction of 360-degree replays," both "sponsor driven through a partnership with Intel." There will be a "total of 50 cameras inside" the stadium covering game action. There will also be shots from RailCam, a sideline robotic camera and SkyCam Wildcat, a cable-suspended camera system, as well as a "fixed-wing aircraft pulling in aerial views above the domed stadium" (SPORTSVIDEO.org, 4/1).

SBJ Morning Buzzcast: March 25, 2024

NFL meeting preview; MLB's opening week ad effort and remembering Peter Angelos.

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On this week’s pod, our Big Get is CBS Sports college basketball analyst Jay Wright. The NCAA Championship-winning coach shares his insight with SBJ’s Austin Karp on key hoops issues and why being well dressed is an important part of his success. Also on the show, Poynter Institute senior writer Tom Jones shares who he has up and who is down in sports media. Later, SBJ’s Ben Portnoy talks the latest on ESPN’s CFP extension and who CBS, TNT Sports and ESPN need to make deep runs in the men’s and women's NCAA basketball tournaments.

SBJ I Factor: Nana-Yaw Asamoah

SBJ I Factor features an interview with AMB Sports and Entertainment Chief Commercial Office Nana-Yaw Asamoah. Asamoah, who moved over to AMBSE last year after 14 years at the NFL, talks with SBJ’s Ben Fischer about how his role model parents and older sisters pushed him to shrive, how the power of lifelong learning fuels successful people, and why AMBSE was an opportunity he could not pass up. Asamoah is 2021 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards.

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