A Perfect Bracket: The Economic Benefits of March Madness
By Dalton Peters ’26, Associate
The immense popularity of the annual college basketball tournament known as “March Madness” goes beyond just the frenzy of crazy upsets or big-time matchups. Over the roughly three weeks that the tournament takes place, billions of dollars are pumped into the economy by spectators and corporate businesses alike. The tournament is by far the most popular college sporting event and even rivals professional events like the MLB World Series and NBA Playoffs. Looking at the numbers, the Men’s 2024 Final Four averaged 12.84 million viewers, roughly a 4% increase from the prior year. To put this in context, an event such as the NBA Championship averaged only 11.3 million viewers in 2024. Beyond the sheer volume of viewers, the diversity of people that hold interest in the college tournament is extremely large. This is likely attributed to the appeal of filling in your own custom tournament bracket. Each year before the tournament kicks off, nearly 70 million brackets are filled out worldwide. With 63 total games making up the tournament, there are roughly 9.2 quintillion different combinations that one could fill out. The extremely improbable odds of this occurrence lures people in, as they hope to make history by filling in the very first one. Also, the difficulty and randomness of the games allows people of all backgrounds to get involved, which further grows the sport and results in more resources being given to athletes.
The excitement of each game helps the tournament have an immense economic benefit for a multitude of stakeholders. Just like any other major event, the games’ host sites experience an extreme uptick in spectator traffic. This is converted to revenue through ticket sales, restaurants, lodging, and overall entertainment during each fan’s stay. Each of the host locations for the later rounds of the tournament will be expected to receive well over $100.0 M. Additionally, the selling price for prime television commercials can be close to $2.0 M just for a 30 second slot, driving up the total advertisement spending. This doesn’t even include the numerous sponsorship deals, such as athlete endorsements, that will occur throughout the event. Since a majority of this money will be redistributed back to the schools, this tournament is extremely important in helping to provide additional resources for athletes.
Another sometimes-overlooked source of revenue comes from the act of sports betting. After being legalized by the US Supreme Court in 2018, total revenue from sports betting grew from $400.0 M to approximately $11.0 B in only 5 years. Within the age range of 35–44 years old, 31.0% of people report being involved in the activity, which also happens to be the age group with the highest tournament viewership. This year, it is estimated that $3.1 B worth of bets will be placed on March Madness, roughly a 12.9% increase from 2024. While the concept of gambling on sports is debated, it remains very clear that it has aided in increasing the economic benefit of this event. Furthermore, placing bets can sometimes be a way to get more fans involved in the tournament. By allowing this to occur, it creates more excitement and eventually drives up the revenue that both the NCAA and schools heavily rely on.
As depicted by the numbers, the tournament holds incredible value to spectators, fans, sponsors, and the economy as a whole. The excitement will go beyond this year’s victorious Florida Gators, as a multitude of stakeholders will reap the economic effects for months to come. On a different note, it is a way for smaller, sometimes overlooked schools to gain attention that they may not usually receive. The attention sometimes even provides players with future professional opportunities that may not have occurred without this support. Also, with the new NIL setup, certain players outside of the power conferences can turn this newfound attention into compensation, which otherwise is harder to receive without the support of a large school. Overall, fans and players alike can continue marking their calendars, as it appears the tournament is solidified in place for years to come. That just leaves us to the millionaire dollar question: Will the perfect bracket ever be achieved?
Dalton is a junior from Tolland, CT, pursuing a double major in Business Administration: Finance and Environmental & Resource Economics. During his second semester in the fund, Dalton looks forward to gaining first-hand experience into the world of entrepreneurship and private equity investing. Outside of the Rines Fund, Dalton is a member of the UNH Honors Program, a trip leader for the New Hampshire Outing Club, and is actively engaged in intramural sports across campus. Dalton is excited to collaborate with other members of the fund and develop new connections.
