THIS would change the face of college sports

[gh]

while surfing on the car radio, I caught last few minutes of some talking head. Don't know who it was, other than it was some "national" guy, not a local. And I don't know if it was an idea that he was personally floating, or if he was commenting on moves within the NCAA to implement it, but the gist was this:

to maximize the NCAA brand (ahh, marketing-speak!), it makes no sense to have the big cash cows of football and basketball going head-to-head for a big chunk of their seasons. So why not delay the start of basketball season until the BCS is over. i.e., two months.

Then crank up the hoops, giving it unlimited attention from the beginning until the end of its season.

Just what track would need most: March Madness becoming May Madness.

[Conor Dary]

A column in the NYTimes discussed this very thing. Primarily because March Madness has pretty much made the regular season irrelevant. A shorter season starting in January I think would help.

When basketball teams finish fifth in major conferences and still advance deep into the N.C.A.A. tournament — or win regular-season titles in midmajor conferences but fail to make the tournament — the value of those thousands of games played from November to February is diminished, and greatly.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/13/sport ... basketball

[Marlow]

to maximize the NCAA brand (ahh, marketing-speak!), it makes no sense to have the big cash cows of football and basketball going head-to-head for a big chunk of their seasons. So why not delay the start of basketball season until the BCS is over. i.e., two months.

The NCAA 'brand' is already 'maximized' for football AND basketball. You can't flip through the channels without tripping over games and commentary on MANY channels. They're certainly NOT going to shorten the regular season and running college hoops till May puts them in an anterior position to the NBA, which is building towards its own championship serieses (sic).

The only way the NCAA could build their brand more is to get real and pay the college athletes their real worth, which is on the docket now.

[BruceFlorman]

while surfing on the car radio, I caught last few minutes of some talking head.

If it was on the radio, how do you know what part of him was talking?

[Tuariki]

to maximize the NCAA brand (ahh, marketing-speak!), it makes no sense to have the big cash cows of football and basketball going head-to-head for a big chunk of their seasons. So why not delay the start of basketball season until the BCS is over. i.e., two months.

The NCAA 'brand' is already 'maximized' for football AND basketball. You can't flip through the channels without tripping over games and commentary on MANY channels. They're certainly NOT going to shorten the regular season and running college hoops till May puts them in an anterior position to the NBA, which is building towards its own championship serieses (sic).

The only way the NCAA could build their brand more is to get real and pay the college athletes their real worth, which is on the docket now.

As someone who benefitted from having a full ride I am totally opposed to the college athletes being paid as IMO this would destroy college sports. While I think the NCAA needs a lot of fixing going professional isn't the answer.