NY Times · Apr 2, 2022
N.C.A.A. Men’s Basketball: Final Four
The year 1982 was a historical pivot point for the N.C.A.A. tournament.
CBS had just won the broadcast rights, and it had big plans: a 30-minute bracket reveal show, which would kick off a three-week narrative chronicling the road to the Final Four. The N.C.A.A. also made a consequential decision that year: putting the Final Four in a football stadium, a move meant to capitalize on basketball’s surging popularity, an uptick anchored by the Magic Johnson-Larry Bird championship game between Michigan State and Indiana State in 1979, which still boasts the largest television audience for a title game.