Why Have An NCAA Basketball Tournament if Most of the Teams Are Losing Money? Are College Sports Just a Loss Leader? Does Anyone Care About Basketball Brackets Anymore?

The Best Paragraph I've Read: Each year, March Madness opens a fire hose of cash, as gamblers, advertisers and television networks try to get in on the action. Americans wagered an estimated $8.5 billion in 2019 on the NCAA’s Division I Men’s Basketball Championship, as March Madness is formally known. Television networks paid $1.1 billion to broadcast the games. And businesses spent an estimated $898 million to advertise during the tournament, according to Kantar Group. But fewer than 10% of Division I athletic departments—the highest level of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association—generated enough revenue to cover the expenses of their sports programs. This article comes from the Wall Street Journal titled: "March Madness Is a Moneymaker.  Most Schools Still Operate in Red."  The article is written by Jo Craven McGinty.  You can read the article here: https://www.wsj.com/articles/march-madness-is-a-moneymaker-most-schools-still-operate-in-red-11615545002  Zac and Don discuss and wonder why college athletics departments continue to operate if most of them consistently lose money.   Another Best Paragraph I've Read: The odds of it happening are one in 9.2 quintillion: you’re more likely to die an excruciating death by vending machine, become president, win the Mega Millions jackpot or die from incorrectly using products made for right-handed people (if you're a lefty) than fill out a perfect NCAA basketball bracket in 2014. The odds are definitely never in our favor—but that isn’t enough to quell America’s fascination with the tournament bracket. Over 60 million Americans fill out a bracket each year, with 1 billion dollars potentially spent on off-book gambling. This paragraph comes from Smithsonian Magazine in an article titled: "When Did Filling Put A March Madness Bracket Become Popular."  The article is written by Natasha Geiling.  You can read the article here: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/when-did-filling-out-march-madness-bracket-become-pop