Marketers, Masses, Media Mad For Men’s, Women’s March Madness Tournaments
Sunday, March 13, 2022 at 11:09AM By Barry Janoff
March 13, 2022: For the first time since 2018, venues will be at full capacity for the NCAA Div. I Men’s March Madness Tournament and Women’s March Madness Tournament, and teams, players and marketing partners are ready to dance at the Big Dance.
"Between men's and women's basketball and our two championships, we'll be at 35 different sites this year,” Lynn Holzman, NCAA vp-women's basketball, said via the organization. “The excitement is definitely evident. I think everyone is feeling it,”
"Student-athletes played most or all of last season with either no fans or very limited fans," Dan Gavitt, NCAA svp-basketball, said via the organization. "To have (a full) environment back that elevates play just by human nature has been incredible this year."
The 2020 tournaments were cancelled due to COVID-19. In 2021, the men played in a “bubble” in Indianapolis and surrounding regions, the women in a San Antonio “bubble,” both to limited crowds.
In its own promo spot, ”Beyond Your Expectations,” the NCAA can hardly contain its excitement.
“There’s an energy swelling out beyond the limits of your expectation,” says a voiceover played out to hoops action.
“A universe where fandom reigns supreme. Where Cinderella teams dance with bracket busters and perennial powerhouses. Your fire fuels their flight. Go beyond your limits and enter the NCAA universe.”
Following Selection Sunday today — the men on CBS (6 PM ET), the women for the newly expanded 68-team bracket on ESPN (8 PM ET) — Men’s March Madness Tournament begins with First Four games March 15-16 in Dayton, Ohio and continues through to the 2022 Final Four in New Orleans.
Women’s March Madness begins with First Four games March 16 and continues through to the 2022 Final Four in Minneapolis.
CBS Sports and Turner Sports will provide live coverage of all 67 games from the 2022 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship across four national television networks — TBS, CBS, TNT and truTV — with all games streamed on NCAA March Madness Live.
TBS will televise the Men’s Final Four, beginning with the semifinals on April 2, then the National Championship on April 4, from Caesars Superdome. This marks the sixth time that New Orleans will host the Men’s Final Four but the first time since 2012.
In addition, social integrations will include the highlights, behind-the-scenes content and news updates across the official March Madness Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat accounts for companion content throughout the tournament.
ESPN platforms will air all 67 women’s games across ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU and ESPNEWS. The Women’s Final Four (April 1) and Championship (April 3) games will air live in prime time on ESPN from Target Center.
The Women’s Basketball Championship game will be preceded by a one-hour NCAA Women’s Championship Special Presented by Capital One.
“The Div. I Women’s Basketball Championship continues to grow in popularity, and we are excited to see what a move to prime time can do for viewership of our championship game,” Nina King, athletics director at Duke and chair of the Women’s Basketball Committee, said via the organization.
“This is a unique opportunity this year and we look forward to sharing our sport with more viewers across the country and shining an even brighter spotlight on the amazing student-athletes competing for the national championship.”
“The collaboration between ESPN and the NCAA in anticipation of this year’s Women’s Basketball Championship has been unprecedented."
“The collaboration between ESPN and the NCAA in anticipation of this year’s Women’s Basketball Championship has been unprecedented,” Nick Dawson, ESPN vp-programming and acquisitions, said via the network. “Together, we are committed to elevating the sport and this marquee event as we celebrate these student-athletes who reach the pinnacle of success as collegians.”
NCAA corporate champions include AT&T, Capital One and Coca-Cola.
NCAA corporate partners include Aflac, Buffalo Wild Wings, Geico, Great Clips, Invesco, LG, Marriott Bonvoy, Nabisco, Nissan, Pizza Hut, Reese’s, Unilever and Wendy’s.
"For all practical purposes, the tournament is sold out," John Bogusz, evp-sports sales and marketing, CBS network sales, said during a media conference call. “We've written more ad revenue in this tournament than we ever have before."
According to Bogusz, 30-second spots start at "a couple of hundred thousand dollars" for early games to "well over" $2 million for the title game,
For Capital One, Spike Lee, Samuel L. Jackson and Charles Barkley return for multi-media marketing in a series of commercials, bringing along Larry Bird, Magic Bird, Sue Bird and Capital One spokesperson Jennifer Garner.
The spots include "Double Bird (pictured)," "Fortune Teller," "Mascot" and "Chuck Kuts."
Reggie Miller is back in Wendy’s commercials, including “Horse.”
Marketers that are not NCAA official partners will also have a big presence, but must be aware and beware not to mention such trademarked terms as "March Madness" and "Final Four" as the NCAA must grant approval before the use of any NCAA trademark or logo.
A good example: Corona's "Shades of Blue," in which former NCAA stars, who all went to universities that featured blue as a color, discuss the Tournament without mentioning it, including Devin Booker (Kentucky) Vince Carter (North Carolina), Christian Laettner Duke) and Sue Bird (UConn), as well as brand spokesperson Snoop Dogg.
The Men’s Final Four will have a $200 million estimated economic impact on New Orleans, with an estimated 70,000 visitors coming in, according to the New Orleans Local Organizing Committee and the Division of Business and Economic Research, University of New Orleans.
The Women’s Final Four 2021 in San Antonio had more than a $27 million economic impact, according to the San Antonio Local Organizing Committee, hosting all 64 teams, including the Final Four.
This is the first year the Women’s Tournament is actually being called March Madness, a significant change in addition to the added teams, Final Four move to prime time, more marketing and better amenities for women athletes.
"This action corrects an inequity that has existed between the men's and women's championships for a decade and provides equitable post-season participation opportunities for Div. I men's and women's basketball student-athletes,” Danielle Donehew, Women’s Basketball Coaches Assn. executive director, said via the organization.
Last month, calling it “one of the most highly anticipated events in collegiate athletics,” Disney Advertising said ad inventory for the Div. I Women’s Basketball March Madness Tournament is “officially sold out.”
ESPN said the 2021 NCAA Division I Women’s College Basketball Championship game — a 54-53 victory for Stanford over Arizona — averaged 4,077,000 viewers and was the most-viewed women’s championship game since 2014.
Disney Advertising said the Tournament broadcast includes 14 sponsors and 22 advertisers across a variety of categories.
Sponsors for the Women’s Tournament include adidas, Buick, Capital One, CarMax, Champion, Cooper Tires, Invesco, Nissan, Orgain, Principal Financial Group, Sirius XM, Target, Unilever and Werner Ladder.
The 22 advertisers that will appear throughout the Tournament include adidas, Apple, AT&T, Credit Karma, General Motors, Golden Corral, Indeed, Invesco, Jersey Mike’s, Merk, National Automotive Parts Association, Nissan, Orgain, Quicken Loans, Subway, Taco Bell, Target, T-Mobile, Unilever, Wendy’s, Whirlpool and Workday.
Fresno State hoop star guards Hanna and Haley Cavinder have joined with Orgain organic food company to support the Women’s Div. I March Madness Tournament via a TikTok challenge encouraging fans to “duet their best basketball trick shot using the #ThatOrgainFeeling hashtag.”
The Cavinder Twins are part of the brand’s multi-media “That Orgain Feeling” March Madness campaign, which includes a spot to run during Women’s March Madness games on ESPN, ESPN 2 and ABC.
In addition, Orgain is sponsoring 11 "Player of the Game" features, such as "Difference Maker" — a “player who uses their instincts and out-plays everyone else on the court.”
In 2021, ESPN said its Men’s Tournament Challenge collected 16.2 million brackets, surpassing 16 million for the fourth consecutive year.
Participation in the Women’s Tournament Challenge more than doubled since 2019, growing by +103%.
However, to “help raise awareness for the NCAA Women's tournament,” Unilever brand Degree has unveiled women’s March Madness Bracket Challenge marketing with Candace Parker, WNBA All-Star and two-time NCAA champion (Tennessee), anchored by a “Brackets 101” spot.
A study from Degree showed only 12% of people filled out an NCAA Women's tournament bracket last year.
Separately, Just Women's Sports multimedia platform exclusively dedicated to women's sports is partnering with Dick’s Sporting Goods to award $150,000 to the winner of the 2022 Just Women's Sports x Dick’s Bracket Challenge.
Earlier this year, 31.4 million people in U.S. wagered an estimated $7.61 billon on Super Bowl LVI.
By comparison, 47.4 million American wagered on March Madness in 2021, a total of $10 billion (but $4 billion illegally), according to the American Gaming Assn.
“The sports betting landscape has changed dramatically since 2019 — and as a result, tournament betting has transformed,” Bill Miller, AGA president and CEO, said via the organization.
“As consumers formerly limited to bracket contests now enjoy access to legal sportsbook options, they also plan to place traditional sports bets as March Madness returns.”
Ultimately, March Madness is about the in-person experience, excitement and energy.
"To have fans back for March Madness in full capacity will be really exciting for the players and coaches,” said the NCAA’s Gavitt. “I’m most excited for them.
“We're excited to be able to bring the Tournaments back to all of the local sites who have hosted the tournaments for so long and embrace March Madness so well. It's going to be great."
Men's 2022 March Madness tournament schedule:
• Selection Sunday: March 13 CBS
• First Four: March 15-16
• First round: March 17-18
• Second round: March 19-20
• Sweet 16: March 24-25
• Elite Eight: March 26-27
• Final Four: April 2 TBS
• NCAA Championship Game: April 4 TBS
Women's 2022 March Madness tournament schedule:
• Selection Sunday: March 13 ESPN
• First Four: March 16
• First round: March 18-19
• Second round: March 20-21
• Regional Rounds March 25-28
• Final Four: April 1 ESPN
• NCAA Championship Game: April 3 ESPN
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