There’s going to be a surplus of glass slippers and ugly stepsisters floating around when the 2013 Men’s NCAA Tournament comes to a close. This year’s March Madness is already being considered the most unpredictable in the history of the Tournament, with over 12 major upsets in the first four rounds. By day two of the Tournament, there wasn’t a single perfect bracket on any of the major national challenge sites (ESPN.com, CBS.com, Yahoo.com) – mostly due in part to (No. 15) Florida Gulf Coast University beating (No. 2) Georgetown and (No. 14) Harvard beating (No. 3) New Mexico.
This string of upsets prompted ESPN to make the following Tweet less than 48 hours into the Tournament.
What’s interesting is that this year’s Tournament has also been the most watched in decades. Through the Elite 8, the average per-game viewership has been 9.7 million, which makes it the highest since 1994, and up 11% from last year’s tournament. In addition, this year’s 6.2 overnight rating is 9% better than last year, and the highest to-date since 2005’s 6.3 rating.
With the (No. 9) Wichita State Shockers playing in the Final Four this weekend, we may be primed to witness one of the greatest Cinderella stories in tournament history, as well as the highest ratings of all time. Not only would this make for a lot of happy Wichitans, but there might be a few smiling faces at CBS and Turner Sports as well.
There will also be smiling faces on the sponsors who made big investments (to the tune of $1.4 million per 30-second spot) in the championship game. A price so steep that a few brands have come up with clever ways to side-step an actual sponsorship.
Still, there are plenty of brands who are playing it straight. Here’s the lucky list of official NCAA corporate partners and “champions” for the 2013 Tournament: