NCAA Tourney broadcast selection

[Craptacular]

Anyone know how they decide which games to show in a particular market? Do the local stations get to choose? I'm just curious, seeing how the night game we will be watching here in Madison, WI is Seton Hall vs Arizona. Not DePaul vs Dayton (two midwestern teams, one of which is in the same conference as a WI team). Not North Carolina vs. Air Force (which I'd personally like to see, but I can't argue that it would have more appeal to my region in general). Not Gonzaga vs Valparaiso (which has the highest seed in the time slot playing another midwestern team).

Neither Seton Hall nor Arizona play in the same conference as any team in the state, nor are anywhere near me geographically. My best guess is that somehow, this was chosen as the "best" national game, and is being shown in markets where none of the other games offer any possible local interest. FYI, the earlier games shown here were:

Texas Tech vs Charlotte (Conference USA team ... Marquette in same league)
Alabama vs Southern Illinois (regional team)
Nevada vs Michigan St (Big Ten team)

Tomorrow, they're showing all the games being played in Milwaukee (including the Wisconsin game, obviously), with the exception of showing the Illinois vs Murray St game rather than BC - Utah. That's also understandable. I guess I'm just confused why they are showing AZ - SH tonight. Oh well. I'm just bored. :)

[vtbub]

Must be the National game, that's what I'm watching in Vermont.

[Craptacular]

Damn you Seton Hall!! I was hoping this game was going to get out of hand so they might possibly switch to another game.

[WussGawd]

I think CBS designates a game per time slot as the "national" game, but will preempt that game if there's a game more local to a market (i.e. an in-state team, a conference affiliation). From what I've seen over the years though it isn't an exact science, and I'm not sure if it's CBS or the local affiliates that make a choice on what games get shown in a particular market.

[mgadfly]

In Spokane we saw:

UTEP v. Maryland (no idea why)
BYU v. Syracuse (I guess BYU is kind of close)
Nevada v. MSU (winner plays GU, so it was a good choice)
Gonzaga v. Valparaiso (hometown team)

Considering the options, I think they were all good picks. I really would have rather seen teams I haven't been able to see this year (Manhattan or VCU) in the morning, but I imagine most people would have rather seen the games that were televised.

If I could pick tomorrows:
Boston College v. Utah (chance that GU could play one of them in the Sweet 16)
Oklahoma St. v. Eastern Washington (Hometown)
Providence v. Pacific (I haven't seen either of these teams, and they are in the Stl region)
Washington v. UAB (home state)

Hopefully CBS can make this happen for me. :)

[sterlingice]

In Lawrence, we get two of each of the major networks, one from Topeka and one from KC.

Topeka
Charlotte-Texas Tech
BYU-Syracuse
Texas-Princeton
North Carolina-Air Force

Kansas City
Texas Tech- Charlotte
Alabama-SIU
Texas-Princeton
North Carolina-Air Force

For tomorrow:

Topeka
Illinois-Murray St
Ok State-E Washington
Kentucky-Florida A&M
Kansas-Illinois Chicago

Kansas City
Illinois-Murray St
Ok State-E Washington
Kentucky-Florida A&M
Kansas-Illinois Chicago

Any clue why a city 60 miles down the road to the west gets BYU-Syracuse instead of Alabama-SIU? Maybe it really is strictly divided up regionally (ie BYU is closer to Topeka than SIU and vice versa).

SI

[Easy Mac]

The online videos that determine what games I get to watch (they let you watch reruns) says that 6 games were available on my station yesterday... thats impressive.

[OldGiants]

Here in Richmond we get all 6 ACC games, even Duke's annual blowout. This happens every year, and the local CBS affiliate always announces it has no choice in which games it shows, the network chooses. Not that they are unhappy showing ACC games, but often there's a better one than Duke vs. Armpit State.

[Samdari]

The DC stations are also all ACC all the time. Thank goodness for Mega March Madness. Otherwise I'd never see SU play.

[WussGawd]

In Phoenix yesterday:

UTEP-Maryland
BYU-Syracuse
Texas-Princeton
Seton Hall-Arizona