Award-winning columnist Tom Archdeacon — an old-school storyteller in a brand-new venue — writes about sports, the city, southwest Ohio and anything else that catches his fancy… or yours.Home > Blogs > Through the Arch > Archives > 2008 > March > 19 > Entry
Blown Off the Charts by March Madness
More than just a reward for the players, coaches and fans, there’s an even weightier benefit for the school itself when a college’s basketball team makes a splash in the NCAA Tournament.
Just ask Tom O’Connor. Few people know the merits of March Madness as well as he does.
He’s not just the Chairman of the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship Committee, he’s also the athletics director at George Mason University, the Fairfax, Va. school that much of America fell in love with two years ago when it made its Cinderella run from mid-major obscurity to Final Four fame.
“It’s just been phenomenal,” he said Tuesday night as he watched Mount St. Mary’s top Coppin State, 69-60, in the Opening Round game of the NCAA Tournament at UD Arena. “The amount of money we’ve gotten from media buys has just blown everything we knew off the charts.
“I don’t have the numbers right in front of me, but its something like $644 million.”
Actually, according to an item in USA Today, George Mason got $667 million in national, regional and local broadcast money. Admission inquiries also went up 350 percent, out-of-state applications surged 40 percent and alumni donations went up 25 percent.
In one year, basketball ticket sales doubled.
“The numbers have been unbelievable,” said O’Connor. “But the biggest thing is that it really builds a sense of community for your school.”
So it’s no wonder schools put so much emphasis on making the NCAA Tournament.
Of course, that can lead to abuses. The Ann Arbor News reported this week that athletes at the University of Michigan are often “dumped” into easy majors or take independent study courses with certain professors to whom many athletes gravitate.
That happens at many schools.
Remember Andy Katzenmoyer, an All-America linebacker for the Ohio State Buckeyes a decade ago? He stayed eligible by taking summer classes in music, golf and another course entitled “AIDS: What Every College Student Should Know.”
Here’s another thing every college student knows.
When March Madness sweeps over your school, there’s nothing like it — on the court or in the college coffers.
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