Basketballs for $6.2B.

Broadcasting & Cable, November, 1999

March madness has begun already. CBS last week ponied up $6.2 billion for 11 more years of NCAA championship ball. That's more than twice the old price, with Fox and ESPN bidding up the package. The deal covers a range of media (in keeping with CBS' cross-platform aspirations), including TV, radio, licensing, sponsorship and publishing. Also factored into the new price are Internet rights, an issue not even on the table in the negotiations for CBS' current contract.

As with NBC's Olympic coup, CBS' decade-plus lock on the NCAA demonstrates how important event programming is in a world of balkanized audiences, and how much broadcasters are willing to pay to put their brand on it.