Contributed by: filbert Tuesday, March 21 2006 @ 10:10 AM CST
I’m happy to report that Challenger’s estimate is as loosey-goosey as they come. For one thing, he misjudges the size of the dedicated college hoops audience. In 2005, for instance, the NCAA championship game drew 23.1 million households, according to Nielsen. The year before, only 16.6 million households tuned in to the championship game, which indicates that many so-called fans have only a casual interest in the tournament. Many are happy to tune out the tournament’s biggest game if it’s a blowout, or if the matchup doesn’t interest them. Also, many nonfans and casual fans who participant in office pools experience reduced interest in the tournament as it proceeds and the teams they bet on get knocked out.
Since I’ve evolved beyond “productivity” those 40 or 50 hours or so I spent watching the NCAA men’s and women’s tournament games this weekend (and an hour or two watching the NIT to boot) had no effect–as you can easily see by how my posting here at Medary.com didn’t drop off at all . . . er . . . well . . . um . . .
Never mind.