Hypothetical playoff...attendance version

[atlantagator86]

Originally Posted by AmbroseGator

I don't disagree, but remember that UNC will play Duke twice during the year and their one highly rated matchup corresponds to roughly 3.5% of their regular season. And they could conceivably play each other two more times in the postseason.

I think that's exactly the problem and reason why people don't care as much about the regular season. Other than pride, the regular season games are pretty much meaningless. And the ACC tournament game is only slightly more meaningful. The NCAA Tourney game is the only one that would really mean something. You could lose all of the first 3 games, have barely a .500+ record, but win the tourney game against them, plus 5 games and become national champs.

The real reason that I think the NCAA Tournament diminishes the regular season is because it really diminishes the importance of the regular season. It really doesn't give a team with 1 loss any advantage over a team with 12 losses. Having a great regular season gets thrown out the window come tournament time.

That's the one reason I like the 6-team football playoff that I think Gary Danielson threw out where #1 and #2 get byes. That gives them a real incentive to do more than just get into the playoff.

[AzCatFan]

College football is a larger product than college basketball, but football has some inherent advantages. We have already discussed scarcity. College football games are mostly played on Saturday and Thursday night. Basketball is on 7 nights a week. Competition also favors football, as the NFL plays their games on Sunday. In contrast, the NBA plays 7 nights a week alongside college basketball. On Thursday nights when the NFL goes head-to-head with NCAA football, the NFL wins tv ratings, even if ESPN is a widely more distributed channel than the NFL Network. Simply put, a 1 X 1 comparison of college football to basketball based on single game tv ratings is flawed. Yes, college football is bigger, but college basketball, even the regular season, is a valuable commodity.

As for playoffs, I'd support a six team format with top teams getting a bye. Or eight teams with QF's played at home stadiums. As long as top teams have something to play for, like a bye or home playoff game, the regular season will not be meaningless.

[atlantagator86]

AzCatFan:

I think maybe you're still missing my point. I'm not comparing the popularity of college football versus college basketball. Nor am I making any claim that there's no value to college basketball.

In fact what the numbers I posted demonstrate, at least to me, is that college basketball (at least the NCAA Tourney) is actually a lot closer in viewership than I realized compared to college football. There were only about 30% more viewers for the college football BCS games than college basketball.

The only point I'm trying to make. as far as comparisons go between the sports, is that the ratings numbers between the regular season and postseason of the 2 sports are DRAMATICALLY different. The average BCS game ratings were only about 2X the average regular season SEC game ratings on CBS, while the average NCAA Tourney game drew about 5X the the highest rated network's regular season games. And at the same time, there were regular season games that had higher ratings than the BCS games in football but the closest a regular season basketball game got was 41% of the average of the NCAA Tourney games.

I guess you can choose to attribute that striking difference to whatever you want, but the numbers don't lie.

[AzCatFan]

And you are missing the point, atlanta. College basketball regular season games face a lot more competition than college football. One football game a week against zero pro games versus two or more games a week against NBA games. NCAA basketball gets a larger bump because the product becomes a lot more scarce. Games on only 4 days the 1st two weeks, then Sat and Monday night. BCS Bowl games, on the other hand, are a bit of a glut, as they are played night after night.

A better regular season college basketball comparison would be to take a team's combined weekly tv ratings, then see if games were played against any regional NBA games and account for that. Football ratings would still win, but the value of college basketball wouldn't be as bad as you make it out to be.

[atlantagator86]

Originally Posted by AzCatFan

And you are missing the point, atlanta. College basketball regular season games face a lot more competition than college football.

I COMPLETELY disagree with this statement!!!!

College football spends the first 3 months going against MLB, including the playoffs and World Series. Then the NBA starts immediately after the World Series. Plus the NFL, maybe not head to head except for Thursdays, but it still competes.

College basketball competes with college football for about 2 months (mostly during the "preseason") and then the NFL mostly just on Sundays. Other than that, they pretty much ONLY competes with the NBA, unless you want to count the NHL, which overlaps most of the college football season as well. Basketball has a virtual sports monopoly from February through March.

I would argue that college basketball faces far LESS competition than college football.

I might also add that because most college football games are concentrated on Saturdays, and there can be as many as 4-6 or more major games on at any given time, the ratings should be skewed lower since they are split between several games games. And since college basketball games are shown over more days, there should be fewer games on at any one given time, so the viewers shouldn't be split over as many games, meaning ratings should be skewed higher. But that isn't really the case.

[AzCatFan]

Originally Posted by atlantagator86

I COMPLETELY disagree with this statement!!!!

College football spends the first 3 months going against MLB, including the playoffs and World Series. Then the NBA starts immediately after the World Series. Plus the NFL, maybe not head to head except for Thursdays, but it still competes.

College basketball competes with college football for about 2 months (mostly during the "preseason") and then the NFL mostly just on Sundays. Other than that, they pretty much ONLY competes with the NBA, unless you want to count the NHL, which overlaps most of the college football season as well. Basketball has a virtual sports monopoly from February through March.

I would argue that college basketball faces far LESS competition than college football.

I might also add that because most college football games are concentrated on Saturdays, and there can be as many as 4-6 or more major games on at any given time, the ratings should be skewed lower since they are split between several games games. And since college basketball games are shown over more days, there should be fewer games on at any one given time, so the viewers shouldn't be split over as many games, meaning ratings should be skewed higher. But that isn't really the case.

TV sports ratings, NFL is king. College football only competes on a few Thursday nights. MLB competes against football during pre-season, and by September, over half the baseball teams are out if contention. College football does compete with MLB playoffs, but again, scarcity of product comes into play. One football game versus one game in a potential 7-game series.

Disagree with the statement, but do a side-by-side comparison. College football rarely competes against NFL, whereas college basketball has to deal with the last few weeks of the season, playoffs, and Super Bowl. College football competes against MLB in September, when half the teams have already been elimated. College football also competes against MLB playoffs. College basketball competes against MLB spring training. College football competes against NBA early season whereas the NBA runs concurrent with college basketball. College basketball also has to compete with college football's last few weeks and bowl season. From my perspective, NFL + NBA + NCAA Bowl Season is much more competition than MLB + NBA early season + NCAA early season.