75 Years of Madness

MARCH MADNESS 75 TH ANNIVERSARY 2013 marks the 75th anniversary of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament. It has grown from an eight-team tournament to a multi-billion dollar sports phenomenon. 1) Before you fill out your tournament bracket, CHECK OUT HOW THE MONTH OF MARCH HAS BECOME SYNONYMOUS WITH THE MADNESS OF THE MEN'S COLLEGE BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT. BEFORE THE MADNESS The first NCAA men's basketball tournament was held in 1939 () Overshadowed by the NATIONAL ORÉGON WON the FÍRST tournament 121 INVITATION TOURNAMENT This WAS NOT THE * Now, the men's tournament is the most prestigious event * The tournament started with only EIGHT TEAMS PREMIER tournament The field incrementally increased to 64 TEAMS by 1985 A 65TH team play-in game was added in 2001 Three additional opening The field now stands 68 at 68 teams round games were implemented in 2011 TEAMS VENUES The first championship The attendance gar was held in Patten was only Gymnasium at Northwestern University in 1939 (3) 15,025 From 1943 to 1948, the Attendance tourney championship took place in Madison Square Garden 13] grew to over 72,000 1952 marked the first time Edmundson the semi-finals and finals were Pavillion, held at a neutral venue (41 SEATTLE Some of the most popular venues include: [3] * Municipal * Freedom Hall, Louisville, KENTUCKY Auditorium, Kansas City, MISSOURI 1971 marked the Houston Attendance soared to Astrodome over 207,000 first time the Final Four was played in a dome (3] The New Orleans 654,744 in 1987 Superdome has hosted record-breaking 707,719 in 1993 attendance Final Fours (3] Ford Field has the highest attendance in Detroit record at 826,989 181 The FINAL FOUR HAS NOT BEEN PLAYED IN AN ARENA since 1996 IS) Domes and NFL The NCAA requires the venue must have a 70,000-seat capacity stadium sites are still the venue of choice Most arenas seat through 2016 around 20,000 Some major cities are left out of hosting opportunities Moving the Final Four back to a college arena would be a major hit to ticket sales and revenue because they do not have large enough indoor venues SOURCES: ---- - --------- --- ------- [1] http://www.ihsa.org/SportsActivities/MarchMadnessExperience/MarchMadnessHistory.aspx [2] http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1442234-ranking-the- greatest-moments-in-the-history-of-march-madness/page/2 [3] http://www.ncaa.com/75th-march-madness/timeline [4] http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/news?slug=ac-7192374 [5] http://espn.go.com/mens-college- basketball/story/_/id/8346428/ncaa-discussed-final-four-move-domes-arenas TICKETCITY 1971 1952 1943 - 1948 1939 ---------------