NCAA Could Open NCAA Tourney Bidding War

↵↵You get Dick Vitale from November through March, but how about a little early Dickie V. screaming about the nets being cut down? It could happen, if the NCAA opts out of its current deal with CBS by Jul 31, 2010, according to USA Today:↵

↵↵⇥ CBS’ contract runs through 2013. But the NCAA has the right to opt out by July 31, 2010. If it does, it would leave CBS’s annual rights fees, according to NCAA numbers, of a little more than $2.2 billion for 2011-2013 in search of a bigger payday from another TV partner. ↵⇥“We do 1,100 college basketball games a year and they all lead to one thing and that’s the NCAA tournament,” Magnus told USA TODAY Wednesday. “If it were to become available, and fit the definition of a business decision for us, I’m quite certain we’d be interested.”↵↵I would assume/hope that an “ESPN” acquisition of the NCAA Tournament would really be one for ABC/ESPN. The thought of the national championship being cable only seems wrong. (Yes, I realize the number of people without ESPN continues to dwindle, but the title game needs to be on a network available to everyone.) Then again, ESPN is getting the BCS, and aside from the Rose Bowl, it certainly sounds like the big games will be heading to cable.↵