In negotiation, it’s called the “door in the face” technique.
Your initial pitch is far out, because you’re content to settle later somewhere in the middle with the opposition. Thus we make our pitch that college basketball should not commence until after the New Year.
Maybe that’s seems preposterous to you? Ok, how about we just shorten the season some and commence the campaign a bit later?
Approach this idea with an open mind.
Point # 1 Overlap Season is Cannibalization
I did once see the beauty and glory of “overlap season,” as many do today. It’s great that there’s so many sports, especially college sports, going on all at once. Overlap season can be a good escape if one of your teams is irrelevant; because the other one most likely is, or at least still has hopes of being so. Most schools are not Rutgers, where both basketball and football are atrocious.
For a majority of universities, they have at least one program in the mix.
However, November is pure cannibalization. The college basketball season starts earlier and earlier every season, meaning “talking season” keeps getting longer. It stretches both your fan base and your media corps too thin. You’re only competing against yourself and that’s bad for your base, and your media.
#2 Very Few Care about PreConference College Basketball and NO ONE CARES about preseason exhibitions, while EVERYONE Cares about March Madness
College basketball geeks love the Maui Invitational and other events in that vein, but the average sports consumer has little interest.
They look at pre-conference college basketball in the same way that us college basketball hardcores (I am proudly one of these) look at the preseason exhibitions.
You’ve seen the attendance at those Thanksgiving time tournaments, it’s laughably terrible. There’s a reason the Cancun Challenge is literally played in a hotel ballroom instead of in an arena.
TV network heads will tell you that there’s nothing worse than having to show an empty stadium on television, because our natural reflex as viewers is “if no one is there, then why am I watching?”
Just last month, BTN (Big Ten Network) send out one of those self-congratulatory email blasts, in which they were crowing about breaking their ratings record for a non-conference college basketball broadcast; achieved the with the Villanova-Purdue game on November 14th.
The ratings number that was so superlative- 0.41 HHR.
Yes, 0.4; as you can see no one is watching this time of year.
#3 College Basketball Will Never Beat the Holidays, NFL, College Football, World Series, NBA, NHL, but there’s a Major Missed Opportunity in the Spring
Good luck getting preseason college basketball to get attention over any of the previously mentioned topics. It’s better to just start college basketball media days after the college football regular season ends, and play the preseason exhibitions at a time when there wouldn’t be many people engaged anyway.
They also need to cut back on all the power five versus mid-major and low-major pablum. That’s why the season is way too long, as there’s too many of these uninteresting games.
Shift the season later so that it runs into April and May, which works out because school is still in session.
At first glance, the TV networks will tell you that May is a great sports month, but if you look at more closely, it’s actually quite atrocious. The Indy 500 and Kentucky Derby are more about just being there than the actual sports taking place.
Most NBA and NHL fans have already seen their teams long “out of it” by then. Baseball hasn’t heated up yet. Most of the major television shows are in re-runs, and it’s not yet summer so people are still at home and inside a lot watching TV.
The answer?
Start March Madness on the very last weekend in March. Better yet, begin conference tournaments, with the auto bids, on that weekend.
Finish the Final Four in mid late April if you don’t want to compete with the NBA playoffs, or do it in May when there’s less competition for attention.
Oktoberfest is in September, thus there’s no reason March Madness can’t extend into April- oh wait, it already does!
#4 November/December College Basketball is Often AWFUL
This past Saturday’s college basketball schedule was just awful, and it’s typical for this time of year. There were plenty of games, but most of it was unwatchable. A lot of schools are on finals week right now so they are either not playing, or just scheduling total garbage.
Here’s what’s really worth while in the pre-conference:
the B1G/ACC Challenge, Gavitt Tip-Off Games, Champions Classic, aforementioned holiday tournaments, and the annual neutral site game at the NBA arena in the state of a given power five conference team against another power five conference team.
Notice how every single game worthwhile has to have a “name?”
Every contest these days is billed with an official title/nickname/gimmicky marketing mantra, prefixed by a corporate sponsor, of course!
Why can’t you just have a quality opponent play a quality opponent in the preconference without having to hype it up with some silly slogan? At the end of the day, your given power five conference team plays four or five at the most, compelling pre-conference games.
They also play about eight or nine regular season yawn fests that draw low interest all around.
Why does this dull status quo continue to persist? This interview with Purdue Coach Matt Painter says it all. It’s just too hard to get people to play on the road. As Painter points out, even if you play home and homes, it’s still difficult to get people to come play on the road.
#5 Added Made for TV “Events” are the Right Idea, but it’s Nowhere Near Enough
Despite ESPN’s efforts to add some pretty cool games and then shove it down the American people’s throats, it’s just too much of mountain to climb. In spite of all that the Kentucky Wildcats have done to help this cause, because they play in every single one of these marquee events, taking on all comers, it’s just too big a problem.
It’s a noble effort, but the wrong way to go.
Making college basketball a one semester sport is the better alternative.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, partnered with FOX Sports Engage Network. and News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, currently contributes regularly to the Chicago Tribune’s RedEye publication and Bold Global.
He also consistently appears on numerous radio and television talk shows all across the country. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram and Sound Cloud.