College basketball became a national obsession in the 1980s. Once a regionalized pastime, the college game became virtually omnipresent due to expanding cable television networks (particularly ESPN) and the media's rigorous marketing of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) championship tournament; even the phrase for the championship tournament, "March Madness," is a registered trademark. The major network covering the monthlong men's tournament, CBS, bid $16 million for exclusive rights to the Final Four in 1982, and then renegotiated its pact with the NCAA every few years until in November 1989, when it reached an agreement on a seven-year, $1 billion contract. Capitalizing on the phenomenal popularity of the Magic Johnson—Larry Bird matchup in the title game in 1979, network television poured money into the sport like never before and promoted the Final Four as a media spectacle to rival the Super Bowl. The NCAA responded by enlarging the.....
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