NCAA buys out the preseason and postseason NIT tourneys

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NCAA buys out the preseason and postseason NIT tourneys

Post by kmax » Wed Aug 17, 2005 3:05 pm

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/ ... hase_x.htm
NCAA settlement includes purchase of NIT
From staff reports
NEW YORK — The NCAA has purchased the preseason and postseason National Invitation Tournaments as part of a $56.5 million settlement of a federal antitrust lawsuit with the Metropolitan Intercollegiate Basketball Association (MIBA) — an organization comprised of five New York City schools that have owned the NIT events since the 1940s.

NCAA President Myles Brand and New York University president John Sexton announced the agreement at a press conference Wednesday at Madison Square Garden.

Terms of the agreement both transfer the ownership of the tournaments ($40.5 million) and end the litigation ($16 million). The combined amounts will be paid over a 10-year period.

The agreement ends litigation that has been ongoing between the two parties for four years.

MIBA sued the NCAA in 2001, claiming antitrust violations with regard to the Association's Division I Men's Basketball Championship.

The trial began Aug. 1 and was suspended Tuesday when lawyers told the court a settlement was imminent. The jury was sent home Tuesday and did not return Wednesday.

"This is an historic day for men's college basketball," said Brand in a statement. "The agreement provides the NCAA with an opportunity to better define the college basketball season and to build on the status of the two NIT events. We intend to grow these tournaments to showcase college basketball and the student-athletes who make the game great."

Operation of the events by the NCAA will commence this fall.

ESPN will continue to broadcast the tournaments.

Finals of the tournaments will continue to be held in the New York City area for at least the next five years.


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Post by CatFamily » Wed Aug 17, 2005 4:55 pm

Talk about a monopoly now!! It was always good to have someone else running a tourney other than the NCAA. Hope they stay true to their committment to make the NIT tourneys better... and that includes looking at some of the smaller market NCAA teams... ie: Big Sky


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Post by WYOBISONMAN » Thu Aug 18, 2005 9:55 am

This is not good at all.


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Post by 89rabbit » Fri Aug 19, 2005 8:54 am

I'm not so sure about that, now that the NCAA ones the rights they won't be as concerned about having a Northeast match up in the semi-finals and finals. I think this could be good for Mid-Majors, especially those of us out west. Here are highlights from an Indy Star story speaking to my point:

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/a ... 004/SPORTS

August 19, 2005


Mid-major teams excited about NIT's future


By Jeff Rabjohns


Now that the NCAA is in charge of the National Invitation Tournament, coaches of college basketball's mid-major programs say they're hopeful.

Hopeful that selection will be based on a team's performance, rather than the prestige of a school's name and its potential to draw a television audience. . . .

"I'm hoping the process will be more fair," said IUPUI coach Ron Hunter, a member of the National Association of Basketball Coaches. "In the past, it was so political. It didn't matter how good you were. It mattered if you were friends with the NIT."

A number of mid-major conferences often get only one team in the postseason, the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. In 2000-01, Valparaiso went 24-8, won the Mid-Continent regular-season title and lost the tournament title game, and didn't get an NIT bid. Mississippi State, meanwhile, had a 16-12 record, including 7-9 in the Southeastern Conference, and was invited to the NIT.

Of the 327 NCAA Division I teams, 105 receive a postseason bid -- 65 to the NCAA Tournament and 40 to the NIT.

Hunter said the NABC has confidence in Brand's stated desire for fairness to trump any television influence.

"He's really tried to help college basketball. He's proven he's really in it for the game," Hunter said. "Now there is someone running (the NIT) who is hearing what the coaches are saying and players are saying. All I want is for the process to be fair."

Previously, the NIT was operated independently and had to rely on ticket sales and a small television package with ESPN (with annual rights fees between $1.85 million and $3 million).

The NCAA has a $6.2 billion, 11-year deal with CBS for television and marketing rights to the NCAA Tournament.

ESPN retains broadcast rights to the NIT through 2010. But coaches said they hope the NCAA's financial muscle would lessen the need to create games between "name" schools even if those teams had poor seasons.

"I would say there is a general consensus around college basketball that the NIT put together matchups people would want to come and see," Ball State coach Tim Buckley said.

"Maybe with the NCAA backing it financially, teams will be judged on performance."

When that has happened, the NIT has been a boon to mid-major programs.

Last year, for example, Western Michigan fell in the Mid-American Conference semifinals, was invited to the NIT and beat Marquette 54-40 to finish 20-11, giving it three consecutive 20-win seasons for the first time.

"So many teams use the NIT as a springboard to gain momentum for the next season," said Western Michigan coach Steve Hawkins, whose team will include seven Indiana players this coming season.

"It's a heck of an event that has an incredible history. That's the other thing for me, the history behind the NIT. I'm really glad there is still an avenue such as the NIT that exists because it benefits a lot of kids in so many ways."


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Post by CatFamily » Fri Aug 19, 2005 11:05 am

Thanks for the good article 89rabbit. Maybe this will better for the small market conferences and teams. Have to wait and see and hope the NCAA calls it fair.


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Post by WYOBISONMAN » Fri Aug 19, 2005 2:26 pm

I hope that is right.....


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Post by theblackgecko » Sat Aug 20, 2005 4:55 pm

If this means Notre Dame is never given an NIT bid over a deserving regular season conference champion (perhaps from Portland), it's a good thing.

One rule would make the NIT a worthwhile tournament. It would read:
"No team from a conference given more than two bids to the NCAA tourney will be eligible for the NIT postseason tourney."
That would force the NIT to pick worthwhile teams from smaller conferences, without stigmatizing the small conferences.



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