List of NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament Final Four broadcasters
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Since 2010, the NCAA has had a joint contract with CBS and Warner Bros. Discovery. The coverage of the tournament is split between CBS, TNT, TBS, and truTV.[1]
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Broadcasters from CBS, TBS, and TNT's sports coverage are shared across all four networks, with CBS' college basketball teams supplemented with TNT's NBA teams, while studio segments take place at the CBS Broadcast Center in New York City and TNT's studios in Atlanta. In the New York–based studio shows, CBS' Adam Zucker and Clark Kellogg are joined by Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith, and Charles Barkley of TNT's Inside the NBA while Seth Davis and Jay Wright of CBS assist with NBA on TNT Tuesday's Adam Lefkoe and Candace Parker. While three of TNT's NBA voices, Kevin Harlan, Ian Eagle, and Spero Dedes are already employed by CBS in other capacities, TNT also lends analysts Stan Van Gundy, Jim Jackson, Grant Hill, and Steve Smith, secondary play-by-play man Brian Anderson, and reporters Allie LaForce and Lauren Shehadi, the latter being from TBS's MLB coverage, to CBS. In turn, CBS announcers Brad Nessler, Andrew Catalon, and Tom McCarthy appear on WBD network broadcasts along with analysts Jim Spanarkel, Bill Raftery, Dan Bonner, Steve Lappas, and Brendan Haywood, as well as reporters Tracy Wolfson, Evan Washburn, A. J. Ross, and Jon Rothstein, and rules analyst Gene Steratore. Announcers from other networks like Lisa Byington and Robbie Hummel from Fox, the latter also working for Peacock and Big Ten Network, Jalen Rose from NBC Sports, who also does work for TNT and NBA TV, Debbie Antonelli from ESPN, Jamie Erdahl from NFL Network, and Andy Katz from NCAA.com are also lent to CBS and TNT.
The current contract runs through 2032 and, for the first time in history, provides for the nationwide broadcast each year of all games of the tournament. All First Four games air on truTV. A featured first- or second-round game in each time "window" is broadcast on CBS, while all other games are shown either on TBS, TNT or truTV. The regional semifinals, better known as the Sweet Sixteen, are split between CBS and TBS. CBS had the exclusive rights to the regional finals, also known as the Elite Eight, through 2014. That exclusivity extended to the entire Final Four as well, but after the 2013 tournament Turner Sports elected to exercise a contractual option for 2014 and 2015 giving TBS broadcast rights to the national semifinal matchups.[2] CBS kept its national championship game rights.[2]
Since 2015, CBS and TBS split coverage of the Elite Eight. Since 2016, CBS and TBS alternate coverage of the Final Four and national championship game, with TBS getting the final two rounds in even-numbered years, and CBS getting the games in odd-numbered years. March Madness On Demand would remain unchanged, although Turner was allowed to develop their own service.[3]
Television
Notes
1960s
- In 1962, ABC showed the NCAA Championship Game on a one-day delayed basis, as part of Wide World of Sports.
- From 1969 to 1972, both the Consolation (3rd place) Game and the Championship Game were televised on Saturday afternoon as a doubleheader. In 1969 and 1970, Curt Gowdy and Jim Simpson reversed roles for the telecast; Gowdy called the title game and Simpson earlier called the "consy." In 1973, the final was moved to Monday night,[11] and the consy was no longer televised. In 1982, the consy game was dropped altogether.
- Prior to 1969, the NCAA Championship was never on live network television. However, the one-time rival NIT tourney had been on CBS for many years in the 1960s and well into the 1970s. Before the NCAA allowed conferences to receive multiple bids in 1975, the NIT fielded some high-quality tournaments.
1970s
- In 1976, Dick Enberg and Billy Packer called the first game while Packer teamed with Curt Gowdy for the second game. For the Championship Game, Dick Enberg and Curt Gowdy called it while NBC used Billy Packer as a studio analyst.
- The 1979 championship game between Larry Bird's Indiana State Sycamores and Magic Johnson's Michigan State Spartans to this day, remains the highest-rated[12][13] game in the history of televised college basketball.
1980s
- 1982 marked the first year that the Selection Show was broadcast.
- 1987 marked the first year that CBS used the song "One Shining Moment" for its tournament epilogue.
- In 1989, Lesley Visser became the first woman to cover the Final Four.
1990s
- The 1990 Championship Game marked Brent Musburger's final assignment for CBS Sports as he was dismissed (under great controversy) just a day earlier (April 1).
- CBS did not use a sideline reporter for the 1994 Championship Game.
2000s
- In 2008, CBS' studio team did not travel to the Final Four site. Instead, Greg Gumbel, Clark Kellogg and Seth Davis remained at the CBS Broadcast Center in New York City.
- Clark Kellogg replaced Billy Packer as CBS' lead basketball color commentator for the 2008–2009 college basketball season and called the 2009 NCAA Final Four.[14]
2010s
- Despite CBS' contract to carry the tournament until 2013, the NCAA had the option of ending the agreement after the 2010 championship. This led to speculation that ESPN would snag the rights to future tournament games.[15] However, on April 22, 2010, the NCAA signed a 14-year agreement with CBS and Turner Broadcasting System worth more than $10.8 billion, allowing CBS to continue airing the entire regional finals through the national championship, with CBS and Turner splitting coverage of earlier rounds in the now 68-team field. After 2015, the regional finals will be shared and the Final Four and National Championship alternating between CBS and TBS.[16]
- In 2014, Turner introduced team centric alternate broadcasts during the Final Four, called Team Stream. The broadcasters were as follows:[17]
- David Steele/Mark Wise/James Bates – Florida Teamcast on TNT
- Eric Frede/Donny Marshall/Swin Cash UConn Teamcast on truTV
- Rob Bromley/Rex Chapman/Dave Baker Kentucky Teamcast on TNT
- Wayne Larrivee/Mike Kelley/Phil Dawson Wisconsin Teamcast on truTV
- In 2015, the Team Stream broadcasters were as follows:[18][19][20]
- Tom Werme/Alaa Abdelnaby/Chris Spatola – Duke Team Stream on TNT
- Brian Anderson/Mateen Cleaves/Shireen Saski – Michigan State Team Stream on truTV
- Dave Baker/Rex Chapman/Michael Eaves – Kentucky Team Stream on TNT
- Wayne Larrivee/Mike Kelley/Phil Dawson – Wisconsin Team Stream on truTV
- In 2016 the Team Stream broadcasts were extended to the National Championship game. The Team Stream broadcasters were as follows:
- Chad McKee/Eduardo Nájera/Jessica Coody – Oklahoma Team Stream on TNT
- Scott Graham/Brian Finneran/Kacie McDonnell – Villanova Team Stream on truTV
- Wes Durham/Brendan Haywood/Dwayne Ballen – North Carolina Team Stream on TNT
- Tom Werme/Roosevelt Bouie/Donovan McNabb – Syracuse Team Stream on truTV
- In 2017 there was no Team Stream. In 2018 the Team Stream broadcasters were as follows:
- Matt Park/Jay Feely/Dr. Sanjay Gupta – Michigan Team Stream on TNT
- Jeff Hagedorn/Jerry Harkness/Shams Charania – Loyola–Chicago Team Stream on truTV
- Dave Armstrong/Scot Pollard/Rob Riggle– Kansas Team Stream on TNT
- Scott Graham/Randy Foye/Kacie McDonnell – Villanova Team Stream on truTV
2020s
- There was no coverage in 2020, due to the NCAA cancelling that year's tournament due to concerns about the coronavirus pandemic.
- † Expected announcer, subject to change.
See also
Radio
National
See also
References
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