March Madness Marketing

NIT is created

Jan 1, 1938

The National Invitation tournament was created a year before March Madness as a stand alone tournament. Most teams chose the NIT over March Madness.

Creation

Mar 17, 1939

The very first NCAA basketball tournament took place in Illinois and included only eight teams. The winner of the tournament was Oregon. This first event would lead to one of the world's largest sports tournaments.

3rd place game

Mar 1, 1947

In the 1947 tournament a game for third place was added to the tournament. The game settled the dispute over 3rd place and was the first addition to the NCAA tournament.

16 teams

Mar 1, 1951

16 teams played in the tournament. Doubled the number of games and attracted a larger crowd.

Texas Western Wins

Mar 1, 1966

The first all-black team wins over an all-white Kentucky power house in the title game. The win integrated college basketball and made it so the best players would start.

Johnson vs Bird

Mar 1, 1979

Magic Johnson and Larry Bird faced off in the title games. The two future NBA stars drew the most ratings in NCAA tournamnet history and put the NCAA tournamnet to the next level.

Michael Jordon Buzzerbeater

Mar 1, 1982

Michael Jordan,at this time a UNC freshman, won the title game with a game ending shot. His win drew attention to him and launched his basketball legacy.

CBS buys NCAA rights

Mar 1, 1991

CBS got the rights to all NCAA tournament games. All games were shown on network television and even minor games drew large crowds.

NCAA buys NIT

Jan 1, 2005

Teams would choose to go to the NIT over the NCAA tournament so the NCAA bought the NIT. It made March Madness that much larger and offered more teams a chance to play a post season game.

68 teams

Mar 1, 2011

The final increase in teams now had 68 teams. Four spots were added to inckude play in games. The larger number of teams adds the chance for upsets, the core of March Madness.