2. N.C.A.A. Men’s Final Four
National
#2 Sports Event (up from #4)
The games are a tournament within a tournament, the culmination of the Division 1 men’s basketball championship that couldn’t look any more different than when it began in 1939 in a humble gymnasium in Evanston, Illinois. Start with the tournament invitations, which are handed out on “Selection Sunday” and merit their own TV program. Then there are the crowds: The 2014 event at AT&T Stadium in suburban Dallas set attendance records, drawing more than 79,000 fans for the championship game and nearly 159,000 fans total for the two-session event. The TV broadcast of the championship game had 21 million viewers. The event’s success has led to questions over the role of money in college athletics. In 2010, CBS bought the broadcasting rights for $10.8 billion for 14 years. The massive payday for the N.C.A.A. has led to lawsuits and other actions from student athletes who believe they deserve a share of the revenue. The event is also valuable to its host cities, which aggressively compete for the tournament and its economic impact of as much as $275 million. Next: April 4-6, 2015, Indianapolis