NCAA Agrees to New Contract with Turner, CBS for March Madness Rights

Turner Sports and CBS will continue to host coverage of the NCAA tournament, announcing an eight-year extension through 2032 on Tuesday. 

NCAA President Mark Emmert said the following in the release, per NCAA.org:

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The extension of our current agreement will allow our more than 1,100 NCAA member colleges and universities to continue to support student-athletes on 19,000 teams across 24 sports. We have a diverse membership with varying resource levels, and this extension will assist our campuses as they provide pathways to opportunity in higher education and beyond for nearly a half a million young men and women each year.

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The deal will pay $8.8 billion to NCAA member schools. In 2016, the two entities began a rotating schedule for the Final Four and national championship game. Turner (via TBS) broadcasts the title games in even-numbered years, while CBS takes the odd.

Turner Sports President David Levy also released a statement:

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Our partnership with CBS and the NCAA has exceeded all of our expectations, and this new long-term agreement continues to align Turner with one of the premier sports properties that generates unrivaled fan engagement for more than three weeks every year. Our expansive rights provide us with a tremendous opportunity to build and pursue new business extensions while developing an even deeper connection with our fans across existing platforms, as well as those to be created in the future. As we pursue all of these opportunities, Turner is uniquely positioned to monetize these broad rights across every aspect of our business.

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The CBS-Turner alliance is one of a select few universally appreciated partnerships in all of sports. Not only is every game made available via CBS, TNT, TBS or truTV, but NCAA.com also provides live streams that are handled under the Turner umbrella. There's virtually no excuse for any college basketball fan to miss a game if he or she wants to watch it.

"The tournament has delivered significant audiences across all platforms throughout the six-year partnership between Turner and CBS. Television coverage across TBS, CBS, TNT and truTV has averaged more than 10.2 million total viewers in its respective game telecast windows over the last six years. NCAA March Madness Live has more than doubled the number of its live video streams and live hours of consumption since 2011," per the press release.

There's no real downside here. Under the previous agreement, one network would dictate which game fans had to watch. Sometimes, it'd lead to sitting through an ugly No. 1 vs. No. 16 matchup while a thriller was going on elsewhere. Now, the viewer has the power to choose.

In a day and age when live television is trending toward more viewer-friendly options, kudos to all three parties for being ahead of the curve.

Editor's note: Turner Sports is Bleacher Report's parent company.

Follow Tyler Conway (@jtylerconway) on Twitter.