The Power Behind the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament

Thursday, March 6, at 12 noon, U.S. Eastern time

Greg Shaheen joined the NCAA in 2000 after serving as director of operations for the local organizing committee when Indianapolis played host to the NCAA Final Four. He oversaw the development of the organization's headquarters in Indianapolis as well as the relocation of 300-plus employees from its former location, in Kansas. Mr. Shaheen, who has an undergraduate business degree from Indiana University at Bloomington, previously was chief administrative officer of Long Electric, an Indiana company. He also has served as president of the National Invitational Tournament and as a board member of the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics and of the National Association of Basketball Coaches.

A transcript of the chat follows.

Heading into the third year of the free March Madness on Demand with our broadcast partner CBS is certainly a key to this process, as we continue to grow the event. In its inception in 2006, MMOD set the record for online viewership in its first two days -- sporting or otherwise.

We are also working with AT&T to explore ways to provide statistics and other information to our fans. Highlights, key information, whether in the stands, on a plane or in the living room.

That represents the depth and breadth of the championship's following and our continuing interest in working to connect our current and prospective fans to the excitement.

In its January discussion, the Board indicated its interest in a broad discussion of these issues, but there was no indication of putting such a sea-change in motion.

In the few sports that do generate revenue, those resources are central to facilitating other sports and championships.

This year, the lifting of local blackouts is what we consider to be the next important piece to growing the audience.

At this moment, we're exactly two weeks from the start of the first-round games and the "up front" registrations are beyond encouraging. This technology appears to be an ideal fit for the Division I Men's Basketball Championship.

Since its last expansions (to 64 in 1985 and 65 in 2001), the topic has been studied and discussed by the Division I Men's Basketball Committee with constituents such as the National Association of Basketball Coaches, the Collegiate Commissioners Association, among other key stakeholders.

At this point, the basketball committee has determined to keep the field size at 65, but that doesn't preclude the topic from being revisited as part of that ongoing strategic look going forward.

A side note to your question, any expansion would also have to contemplate the "right size" of the field. 68? 72? 80? etc. There is no magic number (as there is no single answer), but examining the issue is predicated on the understanding that teams will always be "left out." Similarly, there is no single formula as to which teams would be added if expanded.

At the same time, a key focus is on broadening the awareness and exposure of our championships, where the stories of our student-athletes and their commitment in the classroom as well as in competition are best showcased. We believe that these are remarkable, important and valuable stories to tell -- in part to inspire young people to understand the opportunity and benefit higher education can bring through participation in intercollegiate athletics.

Diversification obviously also takes into account our ongoing work in making our expansive video library available to the public (www.ncaaondemand.com), our legendary photo collection (www.ncaaphotos.com), as well as our ticket and hospitality programs to provide fans a sanctioned means to access our events.

On a daily basis, the broad subject of revenue diversification continues in every discussion. It is a key area of focus to provide long-term stability to the Association and its mission -- which directly benefits our membership and through them, student-athletes.

Things happen. Bad weather affects travel, a sideline cooler isn't refreshed, a traffic accident can keep a team from arriving at the venue on time or, as in 2003, a war can break out as we're tipping the games off.

We're conditioned to accept and expect what we cannot foresee and to respond accordingly. Given that we've got a number of sites active at any one point in time and millions of fans relying on everything moving like clockwork, we focus on being ready to handle whatever comes, and to do so with the safety and enjoyment of our student-athletes and those who follow the games as our priority.

Our Division III members, for example, are examining possible changes in structure such as subdividing or as you mentioned creating a new division. As the division experiencing the most growth, Division III is examining issues of access to championships and revenue distribution as part of this conversation.

Division II, meanwhile, is also examining these issues and, in fact, has approved a pilot program that would allow Canadian institutions to join the NCAA. They have determined this could be beneficial for west coast institutions in terms of geographic competition.

Division I is similarly examining many of these same issues.

Collectively, the impact to distribution of revenue is a topic of important discussion, but will be clarified upon conclusion of these various studies and conversations.

In activating March Madness on Demand, we've worked with CBS to closely monitor impact on viewership and have actually found it to complement -- not compete with -- our television broadcasts. The numbers are compelling and again, we believe this model suits the Division I Men's Basketball Championship quite well.

Our working relationship with CBS as well as with ESPN affords us the opportunity to showcase more championship content (88 championships and more than 500 individual programs this year alone) and student-athlete stories with every passing year.

We're eager to further explore the right kind of growth for our media assets, and as described in some of the earlier response, are positioned to do just that going forward.

In the coming days and weeks, we will be awarding a series of substantial grants to our membership designed to focus toward continuing growth in the sport.

The Women's Final Four, which has been sold out annually for years is perhaps the best showcase of spirited, engaged fans that intercollegiate athletics can offer.

Our focus now is on growing the game, at the grass roots level, so that regular season and early-round championship play benefits from a following the grows over time, and stays with programs as they evolve.

The women's game is most certainly a pure form of the game, and the opportunity to showcase great role models for young people is something on which we intend to focus.

Sue Donohoe, our Vice-President of Division I Women's Basketball is a legend in the game -- former student-athlete, coach, administrator and now leader who we're convinced will further lead the sport to new heights. The progress under her time here in just a few short years proves that.

Whether it is the Mountain West's mtn. network, the Big Ten Network, the unique and expansive partnership the Big East has with ESPN -- there is no single model and therefore, no certain route to take.

A network approach is one of literally dozens of models we study on an ongoing basis and the opportunity to observe and learn along with our membership continues to be important.

Without question, the stories of intercollegiate athletics interest a wide portion of our population -- making sure to effectively reach each of them is our central goal -- which ultimately drive such a decision.

Student-athletes, conversely, are not employees and when they commit to an institution, they are doing just that. Their commitment transcends playing for a coach -- it reflects a commitment to the institution -- both academically and athletically.

Of course, student-athletes can transfer, and some can play immediately depending upon the circumstances.

For a sport like lacrosse, the opportunity to grow its following nationally after building such a strong eastern base will be among the key opportunities we have going forward. Conducting championships across three divisions in one location and having them broadcast nationally over a holiday weekend demonstrates the growing popularity of these sports.

From it, we work to learn about concepts and business approaches that can be applied - in one form or another - to other sports. As such, the need to continue to focus on innovation and growth of the Division I Men's Basketball Championship is key to uncovering various methods and means to aid the growth of other sports in our portfolio.