The world according to Jim:
• So we’re headed for 76-team brackets for the men’s and women’s NCAA basketball tournaments next year. This might be as close as we’ve ever been to March Madness
• I see at least two potential consequences coming out of this decision, which seems designed solely to make sure the Big Ten and Southeastern Conference each get, say, two-thirds of their member teams into the tournament. Their leagues are already bloated, so why not the tournament itself? …
• First, this expansion is going to be sold as something good for the mid-majors, but it won’t be. One analysis I read suggested that the non-power schools would actually benefit financially because more “units,” for teams entered and the number of rounds they survive, would be passed out.
But if those programs play each other in the play-in rounds, as seems likely, any financial windfall would be a mirage when the little guys cannibalize each other. The other alternative: They’ll be matched against the big guys, and guess who would be moving into the main draw and setting themselves up for more “units”? …
• We are already seeing a decline in Cinderellas in the tournament. The new era of college basketball, with unlimited transfers, players and their agents negotiating substantial salaries and big schools’ poaching of the best mid-major players – there’s no other way to put it – only increases the distance between the power schools and everyone else. …
• The second result? The National Invitation Tournament has become more of a mid-major event anyway in recent years. At some point the NCAA, which runs the NIT, might well make it official and proclaim it as the championship tournament for the little guys.
And when that happens, there goes the mystique of the tournament, as well as any upset-hunting in filling out your bracket. …
• All of this, of course, is designed to pacify the Power Four and particularly the Ginormous Two, because absent any sort of unified leadership in college sports there’s a constant fear that the Big Ten and SEC might bolt the NCAA and take their TV deals with them. …
• And for those who were wondering? The Big Ten generated nearly $1.47 billion in revenue in the 2024-25 fiscal year and distributed $1.37 billion of that to its 18 institutions.
But yeah, they need more. …
• Southern California is going to get another all-sports radio station, The Fan 97.1 beginning on May 11. I wish them well, but I question how they will fill a void that doesn’t really exist, with 570, 710 and 830 on the AM dial already airing similar formats (plus play-by-play contracts with big league teams) and none of them really pulling in big ratings during non-game hours.
Two questions: How much of the new station’s format will truly be local? And can Audacy, the station’s owner, land a play-by-play deal with one of those big league or major college teams? Without that, this might be a short-lived experiment. …
• If their shows include any sort of call-in format, maybe we’ll hear the present day equivalent of Jeff from Tarzana. If you listened to the genre around here a couple of decades ago you’ll likely remember him, a frequent caller with plenty of opinions. I wonder if he’s still around. …
• But as long as the new format maintains the traffic reports every 10 minutes that KNX-FM currently airs on that frequency, I’ll keep it on my car presets. Anyone who spends time on our freeways understands how invaluable those frequent reports can be. …
• Today’s quiz, then: Which FM station in this market was the last to try an all-sports format? Answer below. …
• Which new rule will develop unintended consequences first: The NBA’s new 3-2-1 lottery format, designed to give the worst teams the worst odds and thus discourage tanking? Or the NCAA’s new eligibility standard of five years, with no provisions for redshirts or injuries (and thus fewer opportunities for young players who might need a developmental year? …
• Are we approaching a time – or have we already reached it – when even the most talented high school players in all sports will be better off going to a community college, or a mid-major or even a Division II institution, because there’s just no roster (or payroll) room at the top of the food chain? …
• Item: There’s talk that Philip Rivers, the former Chargers and Indianapolis Colts quarterback (including an end-of-season cameo last year) and current high school coach, is being considered for TV work, maybe on a studio show.
Comment: He’d be perfect, dadgummit. …
• Some clarification is in order. I am not opposed to streamers airing sports. I am against their demanding, and receiving, exclusivity even in the home markets of the teams involved. Mike Breen was right: The fans of the participating teams should at least have the option of their regular outlets, both for the familiarity of their team’s regular voices and for the simple ease of finding the game telecast. …
• One conclusion I’ve reached about the Ducks? Joel Quenneville not only is the perfect coach for that group, he boasts the best mustache in any room he’s in, always.
(I write that grudgingly but admiringly. This Space’s ’stache can’t quite compete.) …
• Quiz answer: KMAX-FM 107.1, operating out of studios in Pasadena, went to an all-sports format in the mid-1990s, with Doug Krikorian and the late and legendary Joe McDonnell taking their long-time partnership to a new frequency as the daily afternoon drive-time team. (If I remember correctly, The Fabulous Sports Babe – Nanci Donnellan – hosted a syndicated national show mid-mornings while the Sports Gods, Dave Smith and Joey Haim, pushed the boundaries late at night.)
The format only lasted a couple of years, however, and was discontinued in March of 1996. As I wrote after McDonnell passed away in 2015 at the age of 58, he and Krikorian had “a 15-year contract that vanished into thin air when the guy who bought the station stopped paying his bills.”
But boy, did they have fun. And their listeners had fun right along with them, and followed them from one station to another. …
• So explain this to me: Mark Walter is controlling owner of the Dodgers, and also owns the Professional Women’s Hockey League. Why, then, doesn’t the PWHL have a Los Angeles franchise? After all, we have two of just about everything else. You think women’s hockey wouldn’t have an audience here? …
• And in a perfect world, U.S. Olympic gold medalist and Eastvale’s own Cayla Barnes would be the captain of SoCal’s team.
jalexander@scng.com