If you push the tourney back a week, you can end the Masters on Saturday at 6:00. You can then televised the Semis (pending on network - TNT, TBS, CBS) between 6:30-7:00 with the 2nd game on between 9:00-9:30. The championship game is Monday, so that is a mute point. The women's could do the same depending on Fri-Sun, or Sun-Tue for their Final Four. Unless the Masters wants to be a stand-alone thing over the weekend minus early MLB games and finalizing play-offs for NBA/NHL.

across the board in golf, so my guess is they need more time to get it done.

will, in all likelihood, be a nonstarter and losing proposition for the NCAA.

I explain in a couple of other post, maybe check those out if you haven’t already.

and if there were others I may have missed them. The Masters numbers, particularly the weekend, and often juiced further depending on the players in contention are often compared to NFL broadcasts. That and a few select college football rivalry games are the only things producing those kind of numbers. The gap might be closing as you say but, I do not believe March Madness carries the single short term impact for television that the Masters does.

broadcasters aren’t exactly risk takers. Consequently, the change is very slow.

making money and they evaluate risk/reward rather than just taking risks. Unless some things drastically change college basketball has more to overcome in the risk/reward matrix than the Masters. I expect the change, if any, to be slow at best and I doubt I will be around to see it come to fruition.

openly. Now they are still acting like 26-27 is a possibility, that may be slow progress, but it’s progress. I think they are concerned about the P2 breaking off and doing their own thing, so I think there is some leverage there. I also think the basketball first schools are upset that they don’t get payouts like the football schools do for making the playoff. They need the expansion to make that happen, so Olympic Sports can be funded. Many of the Olympic Athletes get there through college sports. Since Mad Dog 2020, things have changed a lot faster than they used to. No one that’s honest knows how fast this will change, but I am betting on sooner than later. Time will tell in the end. ** Edited by Stech at 8/7/2025, 1:24:04 PM

rather than later really mean? 2027? 2030? Other?

if you think they will, what year?

before 2030 without other concessions. March Madness is really the only leverage for those schools and conferences outside the P2. After 2030, it is hard to say when because that depends on what the new conference realignment landscape looks like.

the NCAA put the tournament out for bid? Seems to me, they go the easy rout, and leave money on the table every time. To hell with the masters.

across the board. Here is what I propose: The Players is a Major (all the Major players play there) move it back to the end of March Masters move it back to the end of April when the Azaleas are in bloom without heaters PGA Championship play it on Memorial Day weekend (maybe with it ending on Monday) How about honoring those that made the ultimate sacrifice!!! 🇺🇸 US Open play it either the weekend before or after of July 4th (depending on what day July 4th lands), you know having the “US” Open around the most significant event in our country’s history would be pure awesome!!🇺🇸 Move The Open 🇬🇧🇮🇪🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 etc back to end of July or the first weekend in August. It might just be above 50 degrees when they play it. 🤣 Lastly, move the FedEx Cup back a couple of weeks, or just buckle up PGA Tour players, you play almost every week anyway. in fact, you all did that as Junior Golfers for free (not free to your parents), you can certainly do it when you get paid to do it. Do that, and turn March Madness into April Madness. The tailgating for the last rounds would be off the hook. PS CBS has the NCAA 🏀 Tournament contract for years, so it’s up to them. ** Edited by Stech at 8/6/2025, 7:08:15 PM

CBS has 0 power in regards to The Masters - Hell they don't even control the broadcast - they own the TV rights - ** Edited by AnotherTechW at 8/20/2025, 11:00:55 PM

with being fair to bubble teams. Do they think the public is too dumb to see they are just moving the bubble.

Expansion lets them do that by pretending it is giving opportunities to everyone else. But reality is they already stole the spots and grabbed the money. Expansion is about paying off the ACC and B12 and mid majors who they stole from.

Sports which is a good thing. I also think they are hiding that they will beef up the unequal sharing for the Sweet 16 in basketball, so that they can fund like the eventual Sweet 16 in football. Schools that get there and advance, will take way more money home. That’s probably a good thing for UVA.

season to an earlier date to make room for the expanded NCAA Tournament.

I have even heard the NFL would like to have the Super Bowl on President’s weekend, but the NFL Players Union is fighting it. Ratings would go through the roof IMHO with many off that Monday. ** Edited by Stech at 8/5/2025, 12:28:51 PM

until 3 weeks before their first game. If the schools move the start date for football to an earlier date, then that means teams will start practice in mid to late-July. Since players are wearing all that padding and equipment, the schools have a right to be concern for player safety. Particularly since some schools don't have an indoor practice facility to prevent from practicing in the heat and humidity. Remember the start date for DI football applies to both subdivisions given that DI-FCS schools are allowed to participate in Week 0 games.

be a new division level within the NCAA. Before you jump on board with this idea, some things you may want to consider first: 1. A new division level means the NCAA would be able to control and management the postseason instead of allowing the schools/conferences do it now via the FBS Playoff LLC. 2. A new division could also mean all other sports would have to go to this new division level too. 3. What would be the impacts of #2 coming to fruition? 4. Enough DI, DII, and DIII schools would need to support the change because the change is no different than when the NCAA created the 3 division levels in 1971. 5. Other reasons that I can't think off the top of my head during my lunch break. ** Edited by VTHokie2000 at 8/5/2025, 12:49:12 PM

without getting so complicated?

complicated answer is the way the schools structured the NCAA. Some issues are limited to just the individual DI football subdivisions. Other issues are limited to individual division levels. While the remaining issues apply to all 3 division levels. At least in terms of who can vote on an issue and which route the proposal has to take through the various NCAA committees and subcommittees in order to get approved. Remember all 3 division levels have their own committees and subcommittees. Each rep (aka school) on the committee/subcommittee is allowed to serve for a specific term and that spot typically will rotate within a conference or conferences to ensure everyone has an opportunity to be represented at some point in time. If you think about it, then you should realize that the NCAA is structured very similarly to how Congress is structured. Even though I am not as familiar with how the NAIA is structured, I suspect it is structured the same way as the NCAA. At least it might be safe to conclude that if there was a better way to organize an athletic association, then someone would have done it by now.

would have to vote in the majority to allow FBS football to start earlier?

vote should be limited to either just DI-FBS or DI football schools (basketball-only schools are not allowed to vote on football issues). What will determine if the DI-FCS schools can vote on the issue or not will be whether DI-FBS schools want to play against DI-FCS schools on those earlier dates or not. If the games are limited to just FBS vs. FBS, then FCS schools should not have a need to vote on the issue. Technically FBS and FCS do have the flexibility and free to decide independently the beginning and end dates of their regular season. For example, the FCS regular season technically ends the weekend before Thanksgiving because the first round of the NCAA DI Playoffs begins Thanksgiving Weekend. The SWAC has been granted a waiver (officially or unofficially it may not matter) to end their regular season Thanksgiving Weekend because the conference decided again to not participate in the NCAA DI Playoffs (aka the conference doesn't receive an automatic bid anymore). History is a factor given the tradition associated with the Bayou Classic (aka Grambling St. vs. Southern) and other "rivalry games" played on that date prior the creation of the 2 subdivisions in 1978. If a FCS conference chooses to play a regular season game or conference championship game on Thanksgiving Weekend and/or Conference Championship Weekend, then NCAA bylaws state those teams are ineligible to participate in the NCAA DI Playoffs even as an at-large team. Hence why the MEAC and SWAC decided to bring back the Celebration Bowl (aka Heritage Bowl 2.0). Right now they are the only FCS conferences that do not participate in the NCAA DI Playoffs now that the Ivy League has changed its rules.