March Madness kicks off March 14th – 68 teams will vie for a top spot, but only 16 will be successful. And only one will be the champion.
While the NCAA doesn’t want your to gamble on your bracket, one tenth of those in the US willingly prime Las Vegas coffers with millions of dollars, many of which will go up in smoke.
Then there is the hefty price tag for attending one of the Final Four games. This year the starting cost is $132. The coaches, NCAA executives and conference commissioners tend to be the beneficiaries, often making millions.
Besides an avid basketball fan base, there’s much more to March Madness than just betting. For one, there’s a huge spike in beer consumption. During the basketball tournament, beer producers will typically increase output by 3-4 million extra cases of beer.
Now, if you’re here for basketball (and a little bit of gambling), here’s 8 Interesting tidbits you might not know about March Madness:
8 March Madness Tidbits:
- The phrase March Madness was first spoken by Brent Musburger during his NCAA tournament coverage in 1982. However, the Illinois High School Boys Basketball Championship said they had been using the name since 1939. The court decision resulted in granting each party its own separate rights to the “dual use trademark.”
- The first NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament was held in 1939, and consisted of only 8 teams. Now it’s 68! Read more on how the team selection process works here.
- The annual revenue for the NCAA in 2021 more than doubled the amount from the pre-pandemic revenues of 2020.
- It is estimated that 10 billion dollars will be wagered on this years NCAA tournament which is 30% more than this past Super Bowl.
- Zero dollars is the amount of money the NCAA pays the players in the tournament.
- Villanova was the lowest seed to ever win the NCAA Tournament with a No. 8 seed in 1985.
- UCLA has won 11 NCAA men’s basketball championships – by far the most titles in history of any school. Kentucky holds a second place with 8 titles, followed by Indiana and North Carolina with 5 each.
- If you’re thinking of betting on the games, the odds may not be in your favor. In fact, you might get a better chance winning the lottery! The odds of filling out a perfect bracket are one in 9,223,372,036,854,775,808. You read it right, that’s a quintillion!
NCAA MARCH MADNESS
2022 BRACKET GAMES
Start a pool to compete against friends or fill out your bracket for your chance to win prizes!
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