Will NCAA Look To Move March Madness To April? It May Be No Joke
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Say it ain’t so. A tradition for many College Basketball fans when the season begins is the NCAA Tournament and March Madness, but that tradition may soon get moved, one month later according to Jon Wilner from the San Jose Mercury News. Wilner spoke to Dan Gavitt, the NCAA Vice President for Men’s Basketball and although the idea is in his mind and it has been discussed among the outer circle of the NCAA, there are currently no discussions set formally on the topic, for now. The 2015-16 regular season is safe, but future seasons may not be.
So, what is the reason for the consideration? It is clear, moving back the season a month would end the overlap with the NFL and College Football seasons ending and would put College Basketball into a bigger Spotlight. According to the article it would also open the NCAA Tournament to more arenas. As it stands over the next three years seventy percent of the arenas are blocked from the NCAAs due to a home game for aonther sport. IF it is discussed and decided on the change would be drastic for College Basketball fans, the Oregon Ducks included.
To be 1,000% clear: Moving #NCAA bball season is not under formal discussion or on any committee agendas at this point.
— Jon Wilner (@wilnerhotline) October 15, 2015
The move would push the NCAA Touranament back to late April or early May meaning Oregon fans would likely have to wrestle between going to the Annual Spring Game or possibly watching Oregon in the Tournament. Kinda crazy right? Gavitt appears to be in seed planting mode in his comments, “There’s definitely a portion of the membership that thinks it’s worthy of consideration. There are merits on a lot of levels.’’ For now, Oregon Fans, along with others around the Pac-12 and the rest of the country can rest easy that the Madness will happen in March, but a change may be coming and the logistics of it make perfect sense.
Oregon is currently preparing for the 2015 Regular season which is scheduled to begin on Friday, November 13th hosting Jackson State(7pm Pacific Time, Pac-12 Networks)