NCAA Considering Moving Back College Basketball Season 1 Month

The NCAA is considering the possibility of moving the start of the college basketball season back by one month to the middle of December. If the switch is implemented, it would mark the end of March Madness, as the NCAA tournament would shift into April.

Jon Wilner of the San Jose Mercury News‎, a proponent of the idea, received confirmation from the NCAA's vice president for men's basketball, Dan Gavitt, that it's being discussed. He admitted there's support, but the Men's Basketball Oversight Committee would make a final decision.

"There's definitely a portion of the membership that thinks it's worthy of consideration," Gavitt said. "There are merits on a lot of levels."

A few hours after his comments were released, Gavitt release a statement clarifying, via the NCAA's March Madness Twitter account: 

One of the main reasons for moving the start of the campaign back is to lessen the amount of time college basketball spends in football's shadow.

By December, the NFL is in the final stretch of the regular season, and college football is featuring games such as the Popeyes Bahamas Bowl and the San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl. It's a better opportunity to make an instant impact on the sports landscape.   

Wilner also pointed out the season could start after final exams for the fall semester and basically become a one-semester sport, which makes sense from an academic standpoint.

Gavitt highlighted two roadblocks that must be handled to make the plan reality, though.

The first one is ending March Madness in favor of an April tournament would shift the event from the first quarter to the second quarter for advertisers. It's not immediately clear whether it could generate the same type of ad revenue.

Then there's finding arenas to host the games. April is also when the NBA and NHL begin their postseasons, and Gavitt told Wilner the initial feedback hasn't been favorable.

"We've had conversations as far as playoff windows," Gavitt said, "and the teams can't, or are unwilling, to hold dates for us."

All told, the idea makes a lot of sense on the surface if you can move past the loss of the March Madness tradition. Getting as much away from football as possible is always wise, and starting the season during an academic lull could ease the overall burden.

It doesn't sound like any type of change is imminent, though. There are still the aforementioned key issues—as well as smaller problems that would probably arise if the planning became more serious—to work out. But it appears the idea is at least gaining some steam.