Madness Sans Cinderella Stories

Conferences earn roughly $2 million for every game one of their teams plays in the NCAA tournament through the Final Four, and FOS says the implications this year is the “rich get richer”

March 27, 2025

Power 4 Party in Sweet 16 Means the Rich Get Richer
FOS’ David Rumsey writes, “The Sweet 16 in men’s March Madness—tipping off with teams representing a record-low four conferences and no Cinderella stories—simply means the rich are going to get richer.

“Conferences earn roughly $2 million for every game one of their teams plays in the NCAA tournament through the Final Four (the championship game does not award another payment).”
^{Front Office Sports}

NFL Competition Committee Proposes Moving Touchback to 35 and Making Dynamic Kickoff Permanent
AP News’ Jush Dubow writes, “The NFL competition committee is recommending making the dynamic kickoff rule permanent and moving touchbacks to the 35-yard line in hopes of generating even more returns. Any rule change must be approved by 24 out of 32 team owners.

“Teams submitted several proposals last week that also could be voted on at the league meetings, including banning the ‘tush push’ and changing playoff seeding rules.”
^{AP News}

FIFA Details Club World Cup Prize Money With $125M Target For the Winner in $1BN Fund
FIFA said it allocated $525 million in guaranteed fees for teams taking part in the June 14-July 13 tournament, ranging from $38.19 million to the top-ranked European team to $3.58 million for the Oceania representative Auckland City.

A further $475 million is earned by results in the 63 games, with $2 million paid for winning group stage games, $7.5 million for playing in the round of 16 and $40 million to the team that wins the final at MetLife Stadium near New York.
^{AP News}

BYU’s Richie Saunders, Great-Grandson of Ore-Ida Founder, Inks March Madness Tater Tots Deal
The Athletic’s Ralph D. Russo writes, “The family connection got some internet traction a few weeks ago when it was mentioned during an ESPN broadcast, but BYU’s run to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament has really gotten things cooking, which has been a great development for the Cougars’ training table.”
^{The Athletic}

Report: Chisholm’s Celtics Deal May Test PE Rules
The NBA’s private equity ownership rules “may be tested” by the record-breaking Celtics sale to Bill Chisholm, as Chisholm “has committed less money to the two-part deal than has Sixth Street Partners,” according to sources, which is not allowed by the NBA. A private equity fund “can have the lesser of 20% or below the percentage held by the control owner (who must hold a 15% minimum stake).” There “seem to be two options for Chisholm,” whose deal was announced “before it was fully financed.”
^{Sports Business Journal}

Gary Danielson Sets Retirement as CBS Sports College Football Analyst; Charles Davis to Take Over in 2026
CBS Sports lead college football analyst Gary Danielson on Wednesday announced his forthcoming retirement at the conclusion of the 2025 college football season. Danielson, who will complete his 20th year with CBS Sports, stands as the longest-tenured college football game analyst on any network.
^{CBS Sports}

Audience Analysis: F1 Tops IndyCar; MLB Network Up This Spring
Looking at open-wheel racing on Sunday, F1 on ESPN took the win over IndyCar on Fox -- even with a 3am ET start. The Chinese Grand Prix in the wee hours on Sunday drew 824,000 viewers, a record for the event on U.S. airwaves, and up 32% from the same race in 2024 (which was a Chinese GP record 624,000 viewers when it was the fifth race of the season in late April). ESPN peaked at 967,000 viewers for the race. The superlative comes after the Aussie Grand Prix set a record to start the season last week.
^{Sports Business Journal}

JJ Watt Joins CBS as NFL Analyst, Teaming Up With Ian Eagle as Part of Network's No. 2 Team
Former NFL defensive end JJ Watt is moving up the broadcasting ranks. CBS announced Wednesday that Watt will join the network as an NFL game analyst, teaming up with veteran announcer Ian Eagle. Watt and Eagle will begin calling games in the 2025-2026 season, with the pair operating as CBS' No. 2 NFL team.
^{Yahoo! Sports}

LeBron James Announces Return of 'Mind the Game' Podcast With a Former NBA MVP Replacing JJ Redick as Co-host
Yahoo Sports’ Chris Cwik writes, “LeBron James and JJ Redick surprised the NBA world when they announced the ‘Mind the Game’ podcast last March. The show offered rare insight from James on the nuances of the modern NBA and smart analysis by Redick, who was quickly emerging as one of the more insightful broadcasters.

“A few months later, Redick got hired by the Los Angeles Lakers to coach James and the whole podcasting thing fell apart. But fear not, NBA fans, the ‘Mind the Game’ podcast is coming back.”
^{Yahoo! Sports}

West Virginia Hiring North Texas Basketball Coach Ross Hodge on 5-Year Deal
Hodge, currently at North Texas, is still coaching the Mean Green in the NIT. They beat Oklahoma State in the quarterfinals on Tuesday night to advance to the semifinals on April 1 in Indianapolis. North Texas is 27-8 this season — Hodge’s second leading the program.
^{The Athletic}

Steelers, Penguins Venues Set for Wi-Fi Upgrades
By this fall, both Acrisure Stadium and PPG Paints Arena will have received total Wi-Fi system upgrades, though only the Penguins’ project will be receiving public funding from the Sports and Exhibition Authority of Pittsburgh and Allegheny County. That’s because PPG Paints Arena was built in 2010, by which time Wi-Fi was included in the construction documents as a standard part of sports venues; Acrisure Stadium was built in 1999 when that wasn’t the case.
^{Sports Business Journal}

Boston NWSL Team Changes Name to Boston Legacy FC
Boston’s forthcoming NWSL expansion franchise has settled on the name Boston Legacy Football Club. The team’s reveal of its new name this morning comes a week after the team formally renounced its previous moniker, BOS Nation FC. That name was met with derision when it was announced in conjunction with a widely panned “Too Many Balls” marketing campaign back in October.

The franchise said in a statement that the name Boston Legacy FC “keeps the focus on Boston while invoking both its long history and its importance as a hub of future innovation.”
^{Sports Business Journal}

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Aaliyah Chavez Commitment Just the Start of Sooners’ Madness
Sportico’s Dan Bernstein writes, “Chavez, a founding player of Overtime Select in 2023 who won the most recent National Gatorade Player of the Year award, picked Oklahoma over schools such as Texas, Texas Tech, UCLA and South Carolina. The Lubbock, Texas, native made her announcement live on SportsCenter—just a glimpse of the publicity that might follow the McDonald’s All-American in the coming years.”
^Sportico

Playfly Sports Fanscore - College Basketball Edition
Playfly Sports, the sports industry’s leading revenue maximization company, has announced the release of its latest FanScore report, College Basketball Edition. This newly published report, in partnership with Vision Insights, offers compelling data into the behaviors, preference, and marketing potential of the college basketball fanbase—underscoring the power of the college basketball regular season.

The FanScore platform offers proprietary intelligence about fan engagement and brand receptivity across the sports ecosystem. In this report, Playfly uncovers a striking disconnect between where advertisers invest and where fans actually engage.
^{Playfly Sports}

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