March is the Best Month for Sports

One of the best times on the sports calendar is in March and April, as it finishes with one of the best events in all of the sports: March Madness.

So many people fill out brackets in a number of ways – based on colors, mascots, March Madness lines, expert predictions, and more. There is no right or wrong way that has been ironed down as 68 teams get narrowed to one over three weeks through March and into early April.

What makes the tournament so great is that everybody has a chance to make the dance at the start of the season, whether a low-level conference or an average team in a major conference that isn’t good enough to win their league; there are countless opportunities to win a championship. There are several teams who have made lengthy runs into the Sweet Sixteen, Elite Eight, and even Final Four.

Other sports like baseball are ramping up; the NFL is focusing on its scouting process and draft selections, and the NBA and NHL are wrapping up their seasons and getting the playoffs started. But for three weeks, amateurism and college basketball takes over the sports world.

It is also one of the fascinating options for sports betting. Las Vegas sees an increase in travel, and the sportsbooks and Stadium Swim see an increase in traffic, with college basketball fans eager to watch all the action in one spot.

Here are a few reasons why March Madness is such a special time and how it impacts the sport of college basketball.

Intriguing finishes

With the popularity of people filling out and competing in bracket competitions, people picking championship squares, and other gambling opportunities, every game is meaningful. So when a potential upset is about to occur or a game is close in the final minutes, people will be able to tune in to every game broadcast on cable television.

There are some miraculous comebacks that occur. In other cases, it is a great shot as the red lights come on the backboard, and the buzzer sounds as time expires. That shot will bring hope to one team that their season will carry on and brings heartbreak on the other side as a season, dreams, and careers end.

Some shots are talked about forever – Villanova’s Kris Jenkins hit a 3-pointer to beat North Carolina in the national championship game, Christian Laettner hit a turnaround jumper as Duke beat Kentucky, and Valparaiso’s Bryce Drew hit a 3-pointer in an upset – while others like Butler’s Gordon Hayward narrowly missed a bank 3-pointer leaving Bulldogs fans to think “what could have been.”

Big upsets

A few years back, the University of Maryland-Baltimore County (UMBC) made history by becoming the first No. 16 seed to beat a No. 1 seed when it upset Virginia. It was shocking and lived in infamy. Meanwhile, UMBC stood to benefit from the popularity as applications soared, and the social media marketer continued to play off of it years later.

The same can be said for Saint Peter’s, which made the Elite Eight in 2022 in what seemed like a perfect path for Purdue to make the national championship. The Peacocks had other ideas as a tiny university in New Jersey, which led to the name, image, and likeness deals for its players and its coach getting a bigger job stood to benefit.

Then there are the dream seasons from mid-major programs, like when Wichita State and Loyola Chicago represented the Missouri Valley Conference on their paths to their Final Four appearances. That led to those programs joining larger conferences, and they stood to benefit from greater revenue.

A new era

This year will be the second tournament where NIL could change the game. Whether it is commercials or other deals that allow players to profit off their popularity, the event will become bigger as the stars can appear nationally and locally to highlight their seasons. But what that does is allow the balance of players. Smaller markets may be able to get better players because those players can get a larger slice of the financial pie as a star player at a smaller program rather than being a complementary piece and a major power.

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