Every March, colleges, businesses and basketball fans are whipped into a frenzy, filling out brackets with their eyes glued to any screen they can find in order to watch the annual NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Tournament, a period of weeks appropriately dubbed March Madness.
The phenomenon dominates pop culture and the news cycle for an entire month, and businesses attempt to take advantage of the opportunity by integrating the tournament into marketing for their business.
During this time of year, businesses often attempt to lure consumers to use their product or service by providing a March Madness promotional tie-in. Perhaps the industry that stands to benefit the most from the tournament is the restaurant industry, as fans flock to sports bars to watch games with their friends.
Bars such as Sunset Cantina, a popular Boston University hangout for students and adults, will shift their focus toward the tournament in order to draw larger crowds through their doors.
“We definitely have been having more people come in lately for the games,” said Reilley Connelly, a freshman in BU’s Questrom School of Business and a waitress at Sunset Cantina. “A lot more people have been coming in and asking to turn on college basketball.”
Another industry that stands to benefit from the annual basketball hysteria is the sports media industry, which is awash with sports news, post-game talk, highlights and exclusive content during the tournament each year.
Fancred, a Boston-based startup, is an app designed to connect sports fans together to create and share content while discussing their favorite teams and players, according to its website. The app has seen significant increase in posts this March since the start of the tournament, said Andrew Miller, president of Fancred.
“We have around the clock content about March Madness,” said Miller, who bought the company back in July of 2016. “There are posts every 10 to 30 seconds about the tournament.”
While some tech startups like Fancred have capitalized off of the tournament frenzy, others have been hurt by engaging in March Madness.
Last year, the NCAA had a scuffle with DraftKings, a daily fantasy sports platform which gives out money to users who correctly predict games or players’ performances. The NCAA took issue with the app including collegiate players and events in its games, and had them removed. The 2016 NCAA tournament final was the final contest to be allowed on the app, which dropped all NCAA events including college basketball and football.
The NCAA also prevented businesses for using the term “March Madness,” which has been trademarked by the organization, along with terms such as “Final Four,” “Elite Eight” and “Sweet 16.”
The trademarks make it difficult for businesses to make effective promotions for their companies without infringing on the NCAA’s copyright. The NCAA also strictly forbids wagering and gambling on collegiate athletic events in all forms, and has cracked down on companies that have attempted to profit off of collegiate events in these ways, according to its website.
According to a 2016 ESPN article, Donald Remy, NCAA chief legal officer, said “We have made clear at every point in this national debate that daily fantasy sports competition should not be allowed to be conducted using college, high school and youth sports programs,” when the decision was announced last March.
Gambling on collegiate events is a serious issue in the eyes of the NCAA and on many college campuses. BU has a zero tolerance policy on gambling on the NCAA tournament, stating in a memo issued to student athletes that “it does not matter how informal the pool may be; if an exchange of money or other tangible item is involved, then any pool is impermissible.”
Questions have been raised about how effective this policy is, as it is extremely difficult to enforce among private students, said Aaron Aaker, the associate athletic director of compliance and strategic planning in the BU Athletics Department.
“We educate our student-athletes, coaches and staff multiple times per year — prior to bowl season, prior to the Super Bowl, prior to March Madness — in an effort to make sure that everyone is aware of the NCAA rules,” Aaker said. “An annual rules education session is provided to all student-athletes as well.”
As strict as the NCAA is concerning its trademarks and gambling on collegiate events, businesses must tread carefully if they aim to profit off of March Madness.
“There are many reasons why the NCAA has this policy, including to preserve the integrity of competition,” Aaker said. “Having rules with penalties should help to deter wagering on college athletics by participants.”
