Ok, so when you sue someone for antitrust aren’t you trying to get the market opened up? If you’re the NIT and you’ve sued the NCAA concerning the season end college basketball tournament, you don’t. You let the NCAA buy you and own the whole market.
As amazing as it sounds, that is exactly what happened when the NCAA and NIT settled their case. The details are as follows:
- The NCAA buys the NIT pre-season and post-season tournaments for $56.5 million dollars.
- The NCAA guarantees the finals will be played at Madison Square Garden for the next five years.
- ESPN will still broadcast the NIT tournaments.
NCAA President Myles Brand said:
This is an historic day for men’s college basketball. The agreement provides the NCAA with an opportunity to better define the college basketball season and to build on the status of the two NIT events. We intend to grow these tournaments to showcase college basketball and the student-athletes who make the game great.
I don’t know how much more growth you can have. The two tournaments draw 105 teams between them.
Way to lay over and die, NIT. Of course, there has been no mention of where the $56.5 million dollars goes.