Sunday, March 22, 2015

Going Mad for March Madness

Research Question: Why are sports fans so crazy about March Madness?


The extreme unpredictability and the obsession with brackets lead to fans being drove crazy by the NCAA’s championship tournament, also known as “March Madness”.
Filling out a bracket, which predicts which teams will win each NCAA Tournament game, has become a springtime staple for most sports fan.

Source:Fansided.com

One primary reason for most people watching the games is for them to find out if their teams will win or lose. According to Just Why Does America go crazy for the NCAA Tournament? , written by the Daily Mail (A news source with over 2.5 million followers), “over 70 million people fill out a bracket each year.” That is a staggering amount of people. This subsequently leads to more viewership on the games, because why would you spend the time to fill out a bracket and then not want to find out the results? Ordinary People get into very the games, usually having gambled money on their bracket and wanting to see it come to fruition. The bracket has increased the attention and interest in March Madness immensely.


Next, the unwavering unpredictability of the NCAA Tournament makes it extremely appealing to every sports fan. Everybody loves to see a good upset, a “David and Goliath” situation, and there is no shortage of that in March Madness. That is where the name derives from, as it really is “madness” in march when it comes to college basketball. Lower seeds are constantly stunning higher seeds and knocking them out, which the common fan loves to see. Watching perennial powerhouses such as Duke, Kansas, Kentucky, UCLA, or Georgetown lose brings pleasure to many college basketball fans. The close games and dramatic finishes produce drama, excitement, and, inevitably, lots of money. According to the article, March Madness brings in revenue of $1.15 billion, just for television advertising. 

Countless more money comes in through various other products and services related to March Madness. In addition to all the close games and individual upsets, every tournament there seems to be a team that is dubbed a “cinderella” story. Almost every year, there is a high seed that makes a run deep into the tourney and captures the heart of America, which draws even more hype to the tournament. Add all these variables together, and you have the greatest three week event in all of sports.

FUTURE RESEARCH: Do life circumstances determine how devoted fans are? Why do some fans riot after big games?

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