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97-506: ESPN NFL Football (alternatively known as NFL 2K4 ) is the first Sega football game using the ESPN in the name. It is published by Sega and developed by Visual Concepts . It was released for PlayStation 2 and Xbox . Former Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive lineman Warren Sapp is featured on the cover. The game received "universal acclaim" on both platforms according to the review aggregation website Metacritic . GameSpot named it

194-694: A 4:3 full-screen to a letterboxed format (via the application of the AFD #10 display flag), which occurred on June 1 of that year. WatchESPN was a website for desktop computers , as well as an application for smartphones and tablet computers that allowed subscribers of participating pay-TV providers to watch live streams of programming from ESPN and its sister networks (except for ESPN Classic), including most sporting events, on computers, mobile devices, Apple TV , Roku and Xbox Live via their TV Everywhere login provided by their cable provider. The service originally launched on October 25, 2010, as ESPN Networks,

291-422: A single-elimination bracket. Thirty-two teams automatically qualify for the tournament by winning their conference tournament, played during the two weeks before the tournament, and thirty-six teams qualify by receiving an at-large bid based on their performance during the season. The Selection Committee determines the at-large bids, ranks all the teams 1 to 68, and places the teams in the bracket, all of which

388-553: A 24-hour sports channel in January 2004. ESPNU is a subscription television network that launched on March 4, 2005, that focuses on college athletics including basketball, football, baseball , college swimming, and ice hockey . SEC Network is a subscription television network that launched on August 14, 2014, focusing on the coverage of sporting events sanctioned by the Southeastern Conference . Created as

485-588: A No. 11 seed. Since 2012, the committee has released the No. 1 to 68 true seed list after announcing the bracket. Since 2017, the Selection Committee has released a list of the top 16 teams three weeks before Selection Sunday. This list does not guarantee any team a bid, as the Committee re-ranks all teams when starting the final selection process. The seed line of the four at-large teams competing in

582-602: A catastrophic leg injury during the tournament. This tradition is credited to Everett Case , the coach of North Carolina State , who stood on his players' shoulders to accomplish the feat after the Wolfpack won the Southern Conference tournament in 1947. CBS, since 1987 and yearly to 2015, in the odd-numbered years since 2017, and TBS, since 2016, the even-numbered years, close out the tournament with " One Shining Moment ", performed by Luther Vandross . Just as

679-660: A geographical district. Multiple conferences were considered part of each district, such as the Missouri Valley and the Big Seven conferences in one district and the Southern and Southeastern conferences in another, which often led to top-ranked teams being left out of the tournament. The issue came to a head in 1950 , when the NCAA suggested that third-ranked Kentucky and fifth-ranked North Carolina State compete in

776-923: A joint venture of network operator ESPN Inc. and the ACC. ESPN+ is an American over-the-top subscription video streaming service available in the United States, owned by the ESPN division of the Walt Disney Company, in partnership with ESPN Inc. ESPN launched its high definition simulcast feed, originally branded as ESPNHD , on March 30, 2003, with an Opening Day broadcast of the Texas Rangers and Anaheim Angels . All studio shows based in Bristol and at L. A. Live, along with most live event telecasts on ESPN, are broadcast in high definition. ESPN

873-408: A joint venture with Fox Sports and TNT Sports to offer Venu Sports , including the three organizations' main linear sports channels and associated media rights, beginning in fall 2024. Additionally, the company plans to launch a "flagship" standalone streaming offering, including the ESPN and ESPN2 linear channels, in late summer or fall 2025. Alongside its live sports broadcasts, ESPN also airs

970-551: A large number of NCAA football games, creating an opportunity for fans to be able to view multiple games each weekend (instead of just one), the same deal that the NCAA had previously negotiated with TBS. ESPN's breakthrough moment occurred in 1987 when it secured a contract with the NFL to broadcast eight games during that year's regular season – all of which aired on Sunday nights, marking the first broadcasts of Sunday NFL primetime games. ESPN's Sunday Night Football games would become

1067-550: A lead-in to the primetime game and adding the MLB Network -produced Intentional Talk to ESPN2 's daily lineup. On April 12, 2018, ESPN began a supplemental over-the-top streaming service known as ESPN+ . After having last carried national-televised NHL games in 2004, ESPN and ABC agreed in March 2021 on a seven-year contract to televise games, with some airing on ESPN+ and Hulu . The contract also awarded four of

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1164-478: A limited array of events not broadcast on ESPN (most notably, the NBA Finals ). ESPN2 was launched on October 1, 1993. It carried a broad mix of event coverage from conventional sports—including auto racing , college basketball and NHL hockey—to extreme sports —such as BMX , skateboarding and motocross . The " ESPN BottomLine ", a ticker displaying sports news and scores during all programming that

1261-506: A national sports talk radio network providing analysis and commentary programs (including shows such as Mike and Mike in the Morning and The Herd ) as well as audio play-by-play of sporting events (including some simulcast with the ESPN television channel). On October 10, 1993, ESPN2 – a secondary channel that originally was programmed with a separate lineup of niche sports popular with males 18–49 years old (with snowboarding and

1358-493: A new betting-themed daily program, Daily Wager , hosted by the network's gambling analyst Doug Kezirian. The program was ESPN's first regularly scheduled program solely dedicated to gaming-related content. On May 14, 2019, ESPN announced a deal with casino operator Caesars Entertainment to establish an ESPN-branded studio at The LINQ Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas to produce betting-themed content. In order to help offset

1455-548: A period during the 1980s, the network had boxing tournaments, crowning champions in different boxing weight divisions as "ESPN champions". The next major stepping stone for ESPN came throughout a couple of months in 1984. During this period, the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) purchased 100% of ESPN from the Rasmussens and Getty Oil. Under Getty ownership, the channel was unable to compete for

1552-442: A phone feature, then after its termination into a Verizon Wireless paid service. Technologies developed for it have since been transferred to the network's successful mobile strategy in the smartphone era. ESPN Classic was a subscription television network that launched in 1995 as Classic Sports Network, founded by Brian Bedol and Steve Greenberg. ESPN Inc. purchased Classic Sports Network in 1997 for $ 175 million, rebranding

1649-426: A playoff game for a bid, but Kentucky refused, believing they should be given the bid as the higher-ranked team. In response, the NCAA doubled the field to 16 in 1951 , adding two additional districts and six spots for at-large teams. Conferences could still only have one team in the tournament, but multiple conferences from the same geographic district could now be included through at-large bids. This development helped

1746-538: A result of a 20-year broadcast partnership between the two entities, the network is a joint venture between the conference and ESPN Inc., which operates the network. Launching on August 22, 2019, the ACC Network is a subscription television network that focuses on the sporting events of the Atlantic Coast Conference as part of a current agreement extending to the 2036–37 academic term as

1843-401: A separate location a week later, establishing the format with two final rounds of the tournament (although the name "Final Four" would not be used in branding until the 1980s). The 1953 tournament expanded to include 22 teams and added a fifth round, with ten teams receiving a bye to the regional semifinals. The number of teams would fluctuate from 22 to 25 teams over the next two decades, but

1940-539: A streaming service that provided a live stream of ESPN exclusive to Time Warner Cable subscribers. ESPN3 , an online streaming service providing live streams and replays of global sports events that launched in 2005 as a separate website, was incorporated into the WatchESPN platform on August 31, 2011. Likewise, ESPN+ was launched in April 2018 as an add-on subscription for $ 4.99 per month. On June 1, 2019, WatchESPN

2037-424: A team is not moved out of their preferred geographical region an inordinate number of times based on their placement in the previous two tournaments. To follow these rules and preferences, the committee may move a team off of their expected seed line. Thus, for example, the 40th overall ranked team, originally slated to be a No. 10 seed within a particular region, may instead be moved up to a No. 9 seed or moved down to

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2134-421: A variety of sports highlight, talk, and documentary-styled shows. These include: Many of ESPN's documentary programs (such as 30 for 30 and Nine for IX ) are produced by ESPN Films , a film division created in March 2008 as a restructuring of ESPN Original Entertainment, a programming division that was originally formed in 2001. 30 for 30 started airing in 2009 and continues airing to this day. Each episode

2231-728: Is a minority owner of The Sports Network (TSN) and the French-language Réseau des sports (RDS). ESPN also has a minority stake in J Sports in Japan. ESPN moved into the sports betting scene in November 2023 with plans to launch their sportsbook app "ESPN Bet" on November 14. In a partnership with Penn Entertainment, ESPN Bet began in 17 states. Once live, ESPN featured betting odds from their own sportsbook on their content. ESPN has been criticized for focusing too much on men's college and professional sports (particularly

2328-605: Is considered a "home court". For the First Four and the Final Four, the home court prohibition does not apply because only one venue hosts these rounds. The First Four is regularly hosted by the Dayton Flyers ; as such, the team competed on their home court in 2015 . Because the Final Four is hosted at indoor football stadiums, it is unlikely that a team will play on their home court in the future. The last time this

2425-575: Is now used by all of ESPN's networks, originated on ESPN2 in 1995. In the late 1990s, ESPN2 was gradually reformatted to serve as a secondary outlet for ESPN's mainstream sports programming. ESPNews is a subscription television network that was launched on November 1, 1996, originally focusing solely on sports news, highlights, and press conferences . Since August 2010, the network has gradually incorporated encores of ESPN's various sports debate and entertainment shows and video simulcasts of ESPN Radio shows, in addition to sports news programming. Since

2522-645: Is one of the few television networks with an all-digital infrastructure. Archived non-HD programming is presented in 4:3 standard definition with stylized pillarboxing . Pardon the Interruption and Around the Horn began airing in HD on September 27, 2010, with the relocation of the production of both shows into the facility housing the Washington, D.C. , bureau for ABC News . ESPN broadcasts HD programming in

2619-417: Is played over three weekends, with two rounds occurring each weekend. Before the first weekend, eight teams compete in the First Four to advance to the first round. Two games pair the lowest-ranked conference champions and two games pair the lowest-ranked at-large qualifiers. The first and second rounds are played during the first weekend, the regional semifinals and regional finals during the second weekend, and

2716-605: Is revealed publicly on the Sunday before the tournament, dubbed Selection Sunday by the media and fans. There is no reseeding during the tournament and matchups in each subsequent round are predetermined by the bracket. The tournament is divided into four regions, with each region having sixteen to eighteen teams. Regions are named after the U.S. geographic area of the city hosting each regional semifinal and regional final (the tournament's third and 4th round overall). Host cities for all regions vary from year to year. The tournament

2813-657: Is through the eyes of a well known filmmaker and has featured some of the biggest directors in Hollywood. The 30 for 30 film O.J.: Made in America won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 2017 , the first such Oscar for ESPN. Ultimate Fighting Championship signed a five-year contract with ESPN starting 2019 on ESPN and ESPN+ which estimate every quarter 2 event on UFC on ESPN and 6 events on UFC Fight Night on ESPN+. In March 2019, ESPN announced

2910-422: The 720p resolution format, because ABC executives proposed a progressive scan signal that resolves fluid and high-speed motion in sports better, particularly during slow-motion replays. The network's Digital Center itself natively holds 2160p UHD/4K operations and equipment. In 2011, ESPNHD began to downplay its distinct promotional logo in preparation for the conversion of its standard definition feed from

3007-613: The American Athletic Conference , Big 12 Conference , Mid-American Conference , Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference , Sun Belt Conference and the Western Athletic Conference . ESPN distributes various content on Snapchat Discover, including a Snapchat-only version of SportsCenter . ESPN MVP (initially known as Mobile ESPN) was a 2005 attempt at operating a mobile virtual network operator with exclusive mobile content, first as

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3104-455: The NFL Draft , bringing it also to a mass audience and over time creating a television "event". That same month the network began broadcasting Top Rank Boxing on ESPN , marking the beginning of its involvement with televised professional boxing . The show lasted 16 years, and ESPN has since shown boxing live intermittently with other shows including ESPN Friday Night Fights and others. For

3201-527: The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences . NCAA Division I men%27s basketball tournament The 68-team format was adopted in 2011 ; it had remained largely unchanged since 1985 when it expanded to 64 teams. Before then, the tournament sized varied from as little as 8 to as many as 53. The field was restricted to conference champions until at-large bids were extended in 1975 and teams were not fully seeded until 1979 . In 2020 ,

3298-819: The National Invitation Tournament . Founded by the Metropolitan Basketball Writers Association one year before the NCAA tournament, the NIT was held entirely in New York City at Madison Square Garden. Because New York was the center of the press in the United States, the NIT often received more coverage than the NCAA tournament in early years. Additionally, good teams were often excluded from the NCAA tournament because each conference could only have one bid and conference champions were even excluded because of

3395-791: The Texas Longhorns varsity sports teams of the University of Texas at Austin . It features events from the 20 sports sanctioned by the Texas athletic department, along with original programming (including historical, academic and cultural content). It was discontinued on June 30, 2024, a day before the Longhorns' move to the Southeastern Conference . ESPN owns and operates regional channels in Brazil, Caribbean , Latin America , Netherlands, Oceania and Sub-Saharan Africa . In Canada, ESPN

3492-468: The University of Connecticut (UConn) and the University of North Carolina have six championships, Duke University and Indiana University have five championships, the University of Kansas (KU) has four championships, and Villanova University has three championships. Seven programs are tied with two national championships, and 23 teams have won the national championship once. All tournament games are broadcast by CBS , TBS , TNT , and truTV under

3589-560: The World Series of Poker as its headliners) as well as serving as an overflow channel for ESPN – launched on cable systems reaching to 10 million subscribers. It became the fastest-growing cable channel in the U.S. during the 1990s, eventually expanding its national reach to 75 million subscribers. Ownership of ABC, and thus control of ESPN, was acquired by Capital Cities Communications in 1985. ESPN's parent company renamed themselves as Capital Cities/ABC Inc. Capital Cities/ABC Inc.

3686-403: The "exclusive beer advertised on the network". ESPN launched on September 7, 1979, beginning with the first telecast of what would become the channel's flagship program, SportsCenter . Taped in front of a small live audience inside the Bristol studios, it was broadcast to 1.4 million cable subscribers throughout the United States. ESPN's next big step forward came when the channel acquired

3783-625: The 2013 cancellation of Highlight Express , programming consists mainly of rebroadcasts of SportsCenter . ESPNews also serves as an overflow feed due to programming conflicts caused by sporting events on the other ESPN networks. ESPN Deportes ( Spanish pronunciation: [i.es.piˈen deˈpoɾtes] , "ESPN Sports") is a subscription television network that was originally launched in July 2001 to provide Spanish simulcasts of certain Major League Baseball telecasts from ESPN. It became

3880-519: The 2021 women's tournament about the differing facility quality and branding, both the men's and women's tournaments were branded as "NCAA March Madness" starting in 2022 with variations of the same tournament-wide logo used by the men's tournament. Additionally, the Final Four for the men's tournament was branded as the "Men's Final Four" beginning in 2022, reflecting the "Women's Final Four" branding in use for that tournament since 1987 . The tournament consists of 68 teams competing in seven rounds of

3977-457: The 8-district system before 1950. Teams often competed in both tournaments during the first decade, with City College of New York winning both the NIT and NCAA tournament in 1950. Soon after, the NCAA banned teams from participating in both tournaments. Two major changes over the course of the early 1970s led to the NCAA becoming the preeminent post-season tournament for college basketball. First,

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4074-576: The Final Four has exclusively been played in large indoor football stadiums. Beginning in 2001 , the field was expanded from 64 to 65 teams, adding to the tournament what was informally known as the "play-in game" . This was in response to the creation of the Mountain West Conference during 1999. Originally, the winner of the Mountain West's tournament did not receive an automatic bid, as doing so would have eliminated one of

4171-399: The First Four games pit 16 seeds against each other. The two other games, however, pit the last at-large bids against each other. The seeding for the at-large teams will be determined by the selection committee and fluctuates based on the true seed ranking of the teams. Explaining the reasoning for this format, selection committee chairman Dan Guerrero said, "We felt if we were going to expand

4268-429: The First Four has varied each year, depending on the overall ranking of the at-large teams in the field. In the men's tournament, all sites are nominally neutral; teams are prohibited from playing tournament games on their home courts during the first, second, and regional rounds. Under NCAA rules, any court on which a team hosts more than three regular-season games (not including preseason or conference tournament games)

4365-606: The First Round and the Second Round and the First Four became the official name of the opening round. In 2016 , the NCAA introduced a new "NCAA March Madness" logo for tournament-wide branding, including fully-branded courts at each of the tournament venues. Previously, the NCAA had used the existing court or a generic NCAA court. Beginning in 2017 , the #1 overall seed picks the sites for their first and second round games and their potential regional games. Additionally,

4462-854: The NBA and NFL), and very little on women's sports or extreme sports. Baseball , ice hockey , and soccer fans have also criticized ESPN for not giving their respective sports more coverage. Other criticism has focused on ethnicity in ESPN's varying mediated forms, as well as carriage fees and issues regarding the exportation of ESPN content. Some critics argue that ESPN's success is their ability to provide other enterprise and investigative sports news while competing with other hard sports-news-producing outlets such as Yahoo! Sports and Fox Sports . Some scholars have challenged ESPN's journalistic integrity, calling for an expanded standard of professionalism to prevent biased coverage and conflicts of interest. On October 8, 2019, Deadspin reported that an internal memo

4559-405: The NCAA added a rule in 1971 that banned teams who declined an invitation to the NCAA tournament from participating in other post-season tournaments. This was in response to eighth-ranked Marquette declining its invitation in 1970 and instead participating in and winning the NIT after coach Al McGuire complained about their regional placement. Since then, the NCAA tournament has clearly been

4656-474: The NCAA compete with the National Invitation Tournament for prestige. In the eight team format, the tournament was split into the East and West Regions, with champions meeting in the national championship game. The first two rounds for each region were conducted at the same site and the national championship and, from 1946 , consolation game occurred a week later. Some years, the site of the national championship

4753-469: The No. 5 true seed will not be paired with the No. 1 true seed. The committee ensures competitive balance among the top four seeds in each region by adding the true seed values up and comparing the values among the regions. If there is significant deviation, some teams will be moved among the regions to balance the true seed distribution. If a conference has two to four teams in the top four seeds, they will be placed in different regions. Otherwise, teams from

4850-473: The Olympics awards gold, silver, and bronze medals for first, second, and third place, respectively, the NCAA awards the national champions a gold-plated wooden NCAA national championship trophy. The loser of the championship game receives a silver-plated national runner-up trophy for second place. Since 2006, all four Final Four teams receive a bronze plated NCAA regional championship trophy; prior to 2006, only

4947-872: The Phoenix regional in 2004, the Chicago regional in 2005, and the Minneapolis regional in 2006, but reverted to the traditional geographic designations beginning in 2007 . For the 2011 tournament, the South Region was the Southeast Region and the Midwest Region the Southwest Region; both returned to their previous names in 2012. The 1996 Final Four was the last to take place in a venue built specifically for basketball. Since then,

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5044-607: The Whalers), first rented office space in Plainville, Connecticut . However, the plan to base ESPN there was put on hold because of a local ordinance prohibiting buildings from bearing rooftop satellite dishes . Available land to build their own facility on was quickly found in Bristol, Connecticut (where the channel remains headquartered to this day), with funding to buy the property provided by Getty Oil , which purchased 85% of

5141-530: The at-large bids. As an alternative to eliminating an at-large bid, the NCAA expanded the tournament to 65 teams . The #64 and #65 seeds were seeded in a regional bracket as 16 seeds, and then played the opening round game on the Tuesday preceding the first weekend of the tournament. This game was always played at the University of Dayton Arena in Dayton, Ohio. Starting in 2004 , the selection committee revealed

5238-654: The backing of ABC, ESPN's ability to compete for major sports contracts greatly increased, and gave it credibility within the sports broadcasting industry. Later that year, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in NCAA v. Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma (1984) that the NCAA could no longer monopolize the rights to negotiate the contracts for college football games, allowing each school to negotiate broadcast deals on their own. ESPN took full advantage and began to broadcast

5335-871: The best Xbox game of September 2003. ESPN ESPN (an abbreviation of its original name, the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network ) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by The Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Communications (20%) through the joint venture ESPN Inc. The company was founded in 1979 by Bill Rasmussen , Scott Rasmussen and Ed Eagan. ESPN broadcasts primarily from studio facilities located in Bristol, Connecticut . The network also operates offices and auxiliary studios in Miami , Orlando , New York City , Las Vegas , Seattle , Charlotte , Washington, D.C. , and Los Angeles . James Pitaro has been chairman since March 5, 2018, following

5432-486: The bracket, the Committee ranks the whole field from 1 to 68; these are referred to as the true seed . The committee then divides the teams amongst the four regions, giving each a seed between No. 1 and No. 16. The same four seeds in all the regions are referred to as the seed line (i.e. the No. 6 seed line). Eight teams are doubled up and compete in the First Four . Two of the paired teams compete for No. 16 seeds, and

5529-436: The championship was moved to Monday evening in 1973 , where they have remained since. Before the championship had been played on Saturday and the semifinals two days before. The third-place games were eliminated during this era, with the last regional third-place games played in 1975 and the last national third-place game played in 1981 . In 1985 , the tournament expanded to 64 teams, eliminating all byes and play-ins. For

5626-428: The channel as "ESPN Classic" in 1998. The channel broadcast notable archived sporting events (originally including events from earlier decades, but later focusing mainly on events from the 1990s and later), as well as sports documentaries and sports-themed movies. It was discontinued on December 31, 2021. The Longhorn Network was a subscription television network that launched on August 26, 2011, focusing on events from

5723-423: The company from Bill Rasmussen on February 22, 1979, in an attempt to diversify the company's holdings. This helped the credibility of the fledgling company; however, there were still many doubters about the viability of their sports channel concept. Another event that helped build ESPN's credibility was securing an advertising agreement with Anheuser-Busch in the spring of 1979; the company invested $ 1 million to be

5820-472: The field it would create better drama for the tournament if the First Four was much more exciting. They could all be on the 10 line or the 12 line or the 11 line." As part of this expansion, the round of 64 was renamed the Second Round and the round of 32 was renamed the Third Round, with the First Four being officially the First Round. In 2016 , the rounds of 64 and 32 returned to their previous names of

5917-485: The first edition not to be held, and decided against releasing the brackets that the Selection Committee had been working on. In 2021 , the tournament was held entirely in the state of Indiana to reduce travel. This was to date the only time the tournament was conducted in one state. As a COVID-19 precaution, all participating teams were required to stay in NCAA-provided accommodations until they lost. The schedule

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6014-602: The first time, all teams had to win six games to win the tournament. This expansion led to increased media coverage and popularity in American culture. Until 2001 , the First and Second Rounds occurred at two sites in each region. In 1985, the Mideast Region was renamed the Southeast Region. In 1997 , the Southeast Region became the South Region. From 2004 to 2006 , the regions were named after their host cities, e.g.

6111-455: The highest ranked teams normally get the closest sites. The possible pods by seeding are: * Vacated title not included A total of 333 teams have appeared in the NCAA tournament since 1939. Because the NCAA did not split into divisions until 1957 , some schools that have appeared in the tournament are no longer in Division I . Among Division I schools, 46 have never made

6208-437: The highest-rated NFL telecasts for the next 17 years (before losing the rights to NBC in 2006). The channel's decision to broadcast NFL games on Sunday evenings resulted in a decline in viewership for the daytime games shown on the major broadcast networks, marking the first time that ESPN had been a legitimate competitor to NBC and CBS, which had long dominated the sports television market. In 1992, ESPN launched ESPN Radio ,

6305-553: The impact of COVID-19 on its business, Walt Disney CEO Bob Chapek indicated during a 4th quarter fiscal year 2021 earnings conference that the company would increase its presence in online sports betting, including in partnership with third parties. In 2023, The Pat McAfee Show moved to ESPN as part of a five-year $ 85 million deal. The show replaced the Noon ET airing of SportsCenter and This Just In with Max Kellerman . Since September 2006, ESPN has been integrated with

6402-416: The major one, with conference champions and the majority of the top-ranked teams participating. Second, the NCAA allowed multiple teams per conference starting in 1975 . This was in response to several highly ranked teams being denied bids during the early 1970s. These included South Carolina in 1970, which was undefeated in conference play but lost in the ACC tournament; second-ranked USC in 1971 , which

6499-497: The national semifinals and championship game during the third weekend. Regional rounds are branded as the Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight and the third weekend is branded as the Final Four, all named after the number of teams remaining at the beginning of the round. All games, including the First Four, are scheduled so that teams will have one rest day between each game. This format has been in use since 2011, with minor changes to

6596-615: The national semifinals were rotated on a yearly basis instead of the two eastern and two western regions always playing. Seeding also began during this era, adding drama and ensuring better teams had better paths to the Final Four. In 1978 , teams were seeded in two separate pools based on their qualification method. Each region had four teams which automatically qualified ranked Q1–Q4 and four teams which received an at-large bid ranked L1–L4. In 1979 , all teams in each region were seeded 1 through 10, without regards for their qualification method. The national semifinals were moved to Saturday and

6693-560: The network's success, criticism of ESPN includes accusations of biased coverage, conflict of interest , and controversies with individual broadcasters and analysts. Bill Rasmussen came up with the concept of ESPN in May 1978, after he was fired from his job with the World Hockey Association 's New England Whalers . Rasmussen and his ESPN co-founder Ed Eagan, joined by Rasmussen's son Scott (who had also been let go by

6790-422: The number of rounds remained the same. The double region naming was kept until 1956 , when the regions were named the East, Midwest, West, and Far West. In 1957 , the regions were named East, Mideast, Midwest, and West, which remained until 1985. Regions were paired in the national semifinals based on their geographic locations, with the two eastern regions meeting in one semifinal and two western regions meeting in

6887-480: The other semifinal. Beginning in 1946 , a national third-place game was held before the championship game. Regional third-place games were played in the West from 1939 and the East from 1941 . Despite expansion in 1951 , there were still only two regions, each with a third-place game. The 1952 tournament had four regions each with a third-place game. This era of the tournament was characterized by competition with

6984-472: The other two paired teams are the last at-large teams awarded bids to the tournament and compete for a seed line in the No. 10 to No. 14 range, which varies year to year based on the true seeds of the teams overall. The top four overall seeds are placed as No. 1 seeds in each region. The regions are paired so that if all the No. 1 seeds reached the Final Four true seed No. 1 would play No. 4 and No. 2 would play No. 3. The No. 2 teams are preferably placed so that

7081-448: The outcomes of the most games. In 2023, Sports Illustrated reported that an estimated 60 to 100 million brackets are filled out each year. The first tournament was held in 1939 and was won by Oregon . It was the idea of Ohio State coach Harold Olsen . The National Association of Basketball Coaches operated the first tournament for the NCAA. From 1939 to 1950, the NCAA tournament consisted of eight teams, with each selected from

7178-441: The overall rankings among the #1 seeds. Based on these rankings, the regions were paired so that the #1 overall seed would play the #4 overall seed in a national semifinal if both teams made the Final Four. This was to prevent the top two teams from meeting before the finals, as was largely considered the case in 1996 when Kentucky played Massachusetts in the Final Four. Previously, regional pairings rotated yearly. In 2010 , there

7275-454: The program name NCAA March Madness . With a contract through 2032, Paramount Global and Warner Bros. Discovery pay $ 891 million annually for the broadcast rights. The NCAA distributes revenue to participating teams based on how far they advance, which provides significant funding for college athletics. The tournament has become part of American popular culture through bracket contests that award money and other prizes for correctly predicting

7372-672: The resignation of John Skipper on December 18, 2017. As of December 2023 , ESPN is available to approximately 70 million pay television households in the United States—down from its 2011 peak of 100 million households. It operates regional channels in Africa, Australia, Latin America, and the Netherlands. In Canada, it owns a 20% interest in The Sports Network (TSN) and its five sister networks. Despite

7469-568: The rights to broadcast coverage of the early rounds of the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament . It first aired its games in March 1980, helping bring attention to what is today known as " March Madness ". The channel's tournament coverage also launched the broadcasting career of Dick Vitale , who at the time he joined ESPN had just been fired as head coach of the Detroit Pistons . In April of that year ESPN began televising

7566-415: The same conference are placed to avoid a rematch before the regional finals if they have played three or more times in the season, the regional semifinals if they have played twice, or the second round if they have played once. Additionally, the committee is advised to avoid rematches from the regular season and the previous years' tournament in the First Four. Finally, the committee will attempt to ensure that

7663-495: The schedule in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic . The Selection Committee, which includes conference commissioners and university athletic directors appointed by the NCAA, determines the bracket during the week before the tournament. Since the results of several conference tournaments occurring during the same week can significantly impact the bracket, the Committee often makes several brackets for different results. To make

7760-404: The selection committee began releasing the top 16 seeds three weeks before Selection Sunday as a bracket preview. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic , the NCAA cancelled the 2020 tournament. Initially, the NCAA discussed holding a shortened version with only 16 teams in the Final Four host city of Atlanta. Once the vast scale of the pandemic was understood, the NCAA cancelled the tournament, making it

7857-438: The seven Stanley Cup Finals to both ESPN and ABC. All other nationally televised games would air on TBS and TNT under a separate deal the league struck with Turner Sports the following month. On August 8, 2023, ESPN and Penn Entertainment announced a deal to brand Penn's sportsbooks with ESPN branding. Penn's existing Barstool Sportsbook would be rebranded as ESPN Bet in fall 2023. On February 6, 2024, ESPN announced

7954-402: The sports division of sister broadcast network ABC , with sports events televised on that network airing under the banner ESPN on ABC ; much of ABC's sports coverage since the rebranding has become increasingly limited to secondary coverage of sporting events whose broadcast rights are held by ESPN (such as NBA games, NHL games, and the X Games and its related qualifying events) as well as

8051-427: The sports network had been terminated, among them athletes-turned-analysts Trent Dilfer and Danny Kanell , and noted journalists like NFL beat reporter Ed Werder and Major League Baseball expert Jayson Stark . Further cost-cutting measures taken included moving the studio operations of ESPNU to Bristol from Charlotte, North Carolina , reducing its longtime MLB studio show Baseball Tonight to Sundays as

8148-535: The television rights to major sports events contracts as its majority corporate parent would not provide the funding, leading ESPN to lose out for broadcast deals with the National Hockey League (to USA Network ) and NCAA Division I college football (to TBS ). For years, the NFL , NBA , and Major League Baseball refused to consider cable as a means of broadcasting some of their games. However, with

8245-561: The tournament due to COVID-19 protocols during the 48 hours after the brackets were announced. Only one game was declared a no contest due to COVID-19, with Oregon advancing to the second round because VCU could not participate due to COVID-19 protocols. VCU was not replaced by one of the first four teams out because the COVID-19 infections started more than two days after the brackets were announced. The tournament returned to its regular format in 2022 . In response to protests from players in

8342-417: The tournament expanded to 40 teams and added a sixth round; 24 teams received byes to the second round. Eight more teams were added in 1980 with only 16 teams receiving byes, and the restriction on the number of at-large bids from a conference was removed. In 1983 , a seventh round with four play-in games was added; an additional play-in game was added in 1984 . Beginning in 1973 , the regional pairings for

8439-426: The tournament was cancelled for the first time due to the COVID-19 pandemic ; in the subsequent season, the tournament was contested completely in the state of Indiana as a precaution. Thirty-seven different schools have won the tournament to date. UCLA has the most with 11 championships; their coach John Wooden has the most titles of any coach with 10. The University of Kentucky (UK) has eight championships,

8536-419: The tournament, including 11 that are ineligible because they are transitioning to Division I. Key For each season starting in 1979, the 4 teams seeded No. 1 are shown with double underline , and 12 teams seeded between No. 2 and No. 4 are shown with dotted underline . Bold indicates an active current streak as of the 2024 tournament. *Kansas's 2018 appearance was vacated. As a tournament ritual,

8633-533: The winning team cuts down the nets at the end of regional championship games as well as the national championship game. Starting with the seniors, and moving down by classes, players each cut a single strand off each net; the head coach cuts the last strand connecting the net to the hoop, claiming the net itself. An exception to the head coach cutting the last strand came in 2013 , when Louisville head coach Rick Pitino gave that honor to Kevin Ware , who had suffered

8730-405: Was adjusted to provided extended time for COVID-19 evaluation before the tournament began, with the First Four occurring entirely on Thursday, the First and Second Rounds pushed one day back to a Friday-Monday window, and the Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight pushed to a Friday-Monday window as well. Teams ranked 69–72 by the Selection Committee were put on "standby" to replace any team that withdrew from

8827-438: Was discontinued with the service's full merger into the ESPN app. ESPN Regional Television (formerly branded as ESPN Plus) is the network's syndication arm, which produces collegiate sporting events for free-to-air television stations throughout the United States (primarily those affiliated with networks such as The CW and MyNetworkTV or independent stations ). ESPN Plus syndicates college football and basketball games from

8924-481: Was left out because their conference was represented by top-ranked UCLA ; and Maryland in 1974 , which was ranked #3 but lost the ACC tournament championship game to eventual national champion North Carolina State . To accommodate at-large bids, the tournament expanded in 1975 to include 32 teams, allowing a second team to represent a conference in addition to the conference champion, and eliminated byes. In 1979 ,

9021-478: Was possible was the 1996 when the Continental Airlines Arena , home court of Seton Hall , hosted. For the first and second rounds, eight venues host games, four on each day of the round. Each venue hosts two sets of four teams, referred to as "pods." To limit travel, teams are placed in pods closer to their home unless seeding rules would prevent it. Because each pod includes a top 4 seed,

9118-515: Was sent to ESPN employees instructing them to avoid any political discussions regarding the People's Republic of China and Hong Kong in the aftermath of a tweet by Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey . ESPN has won 232 Sports Emmy Awards in 35 years of eligibility. In 2024, ESPN apologized for submitting fake names for Sports Emmy award consideration over many years, and returned 37 trophies that had been awarded to ineligible recipients to

9215-404: Was speculation about increasing the tournament size to as many as 128 teams. On April 1, 2010, the NCAA announced that it was looking at expanding to 96 teams for 2011 . However, three weeks later the NCAA announced a new television contract with CBS/Turner that expanded the field to 68 teams, instead of 96, starting in 2011. The First Four was created by the addition of three play-in games. Two of

9312-409: Was the same site as a regional championship and in other years a new site. With the expansion to 16 teams, the tournament retained the original format of the national semifinals being the regional finals in 1951 . For the 1952 tournament, there were four regions named East-1, East-2, West-1, West-2, all played at separate sites. The regional champions met for the national semifinals and championship at

9409-463: Was then acquired by The Walt Disney Company in 1996 and was re-branded as Walt Disney Television . Challenges began to appear in the 2000s. ESPN began to shed viewers, more than 10 million over a period of several years in the 2010s even while paying large sums of money for the broadcast rights to properties like the NFL, NBA and College Football Playoff . On April 26, 2017, approximately 100 ESPN employees were notified that their positions with

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