Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski said Tuesday that he does not think the NCAA can afford to lose another postseason tournament, generating more than 90% of the NCAA’s annual revenue.
Krzyzewski’s comments follow reports that the cancellation of the 2020 NCAA tournament cost the organization more than $ 375 million.
“We’re the thing that concerns the NCAA the most, because basketball club men and the tournament pay for something like that … it produces 98% or more of the money for the NCAA,” Krzyzewski said on Tuesday of the edition of Keyshawn, JWIll & Zubin on ESPN Radio. “We need to have the tournament. We can’t have it where you don’t have an NCAA tournament for two years in a row.”
Apparently on the same show, Kentucky coach John Calipari promoted the idea of going through college basketball with a bubble format, saying that both the WNBA and NBA showed “the way” for both games in the regular season and the NCAA Tournament . He said the season could begin with a round-robin, bubble version of the Champions Classic, the annual mega-event that Michigan State, Duke, Kentucky and Kansas have.
“Are we going to play the Champions Classic in a bubble without fans and do we play each other?” Calipari asked on the show. “We all play each other, round-robin. You run away with three games. Do we put in a bubble like a pod Kentucky-Louisville or Michigan State with three ‘buy games’? Detroit, where my son plays, Murray State and East Tennessee State with us and we’re playing a round robin so we can get the buy-in games where these teams really need that money? We can do that. Do we do it that way? Is the NCAA tournament in a bubble? “
Dan Gavitt, the NCAA’s senior vice president of basketball, said Monday that he has prepared “contingency plans” to potentially postpone the start of the season if necessary because of the pandemic. Per NCAA scheme, teams can start 42 days before their first games with full practice.
Gavitt said he expects a mid-September decision on the season start date, currently Nov. 10, to be made.
Last week, the NCAA executive told ESPN that officials have discussed an NCAA tournament in a bubble, which replacement teams (a method successfully used by The Basketball Tournament this summer) can look at on standby as positive tests guarantee a participant’s removal . Gavitt has stated several times that a traditional tournament is preferable, while acknowledging the NCAA’s current exploration of the costs and logistics associated with a possible ball tournament.
“I know Dan Gavitt is currently looking at all sorts of different options,” Calipari told ESPN Radio. “What makes me happy is that we’re doing it now. We are not waiting until two months from now and saying, ‘Well, what are we doing now?’ “No, we’re doing it now to figure it out. But we have another path that the NBA and WNBA have both shown us that you can do this.”
Although the timing of the season for college basketball is uncertain, it is clear that coaches and officials aim to create a variety of options to potentially advance. Gavitt told ESPN he hopes for a “Plan B, C and D.” to have.
As per NCAA public scrutiny, the group generated more than $ 867 million from the 2019 NCAA Tournament. While Power 5 programs generate most of their revenue from football, the bulk of the 353 basketball programs are basketball. in leagues that do not have access to that financial pipeline, which increases the value of the NCAA Tournament. A strong approach can result in millions of dollars for a conference.
When Loyola Chicago joined the nation with its 2018 Final Four run, it made $ 8.5 million for the Missouri Valley Conference. The financial stakes for those leagues during an economic downturn could have significant consequences in the country.
That’s why Krzyzewski thinks the NCAA should host a tournament in 2021, even if it doesn’t start in March.
“I think this is where you need to start,” Krzyzewski told ESPN Radio. “Make sure you have the tournament. It does not matter when it is. Because we do not even know when the NBA season will be next year. And we have to look at them to see how they get the waters. navigate forward. They have navigated the bubble really well. “
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