1996
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The last arena to play host to the Final Four was Continental Airlines Arena, in 1996.
Photo by: Getty Images |
The last time an arena played host to the Final Four. The NCAA now requires venues wanting to host the event to have at least 60,000 seats.
Coining a phrase:
The term “Final Four” first appeared in an NCAA publication, the 1975 Official Collegiate Basketball Guide, in a section written by Ed Chay of The Cleveland Plain Dealer. The NCAA would trademark the term in 1981.
22
The 2015 Final Four will mark the 22nd time that the men’s basketball tournament has been played in Indianapolis.
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| Photo by: University of Oregon |
8
Teams that participated in the first national collegiate men’s basketball tournament, held in 1939 and won by Oregon (left).
500,000
Estimated viewing audience for the 1946 CBS broadcast of the first televised men’s basketball championship. The championship would be broadcast nationally for the first time in 1954.
$10.8 billion
Value of 14-year media rights contract between the NCAA, CBS Sports and Turner Broadcasting, signed in 2010. The agreement involved expanding the tournament to 68 teams.
2005
March Madness on Demand (now March Madness Live) launched on CSTV.com.
69.7 million
March Madness Live video streams during the 2014 men’s basketball tournament, up 42 percent from 2013.
{podcast}
SBJ Podcast:
College writer Michael Smith and editor Tom Stinson discuss some of the ways in which a panel of athletic directors would like to make college basketball better.
