March Madness Stats & Facts – WalletHub Report

March Madness refers to that time of year (usually mid-March through the beginning of April) when the National Collegiate Athletic Association and fans go crazy over the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. The NCAA college basketball tournament is a single elimination-tournament that features 68 teams competing to survive three weekends of games to be crowned the national champions.

Basketball fans celebration of March Madness will also see those dollars coming out of their wallets with the average ticket costing $258 and will spend an average of $30 to be on the NCCA tournament.

Commentary March Madness Musings

How do you characterize the NCAA tournament’s economic impact on its host cities?

“It’s great for the hotels and restaurants and all the public-service workers (police and other first responders, etc.) and others who score some overtime because of the events,” said Charles Fountain, Northeastern University. “But the economists who study this kind of thing will tell you that the bottom-line return for the host cities is generally a lot less than the Chamber of Commerce economic-impact studies often suggest.”

“The economic impact is monumental. Those cities have visitors to purchase hotels, food, and parking,” said Jay Gilmore, The University of Memphis. “Multiples all of those travel necessities by thousands and you’ll find your number. Imagine a host city where betting on sports is legal. Cities are bringing millions into their economy.”

Should daily fantasy sports be considered gambling?

“It’s not the same as betting the spread or the money line, but if money is put up in hopes of a larger sum if the fantasy team is successful, then it is a form of gambling,” said Alan Zaremba, Northeastern University.

“I would say fantasy sports are gambling if significant cash is changing hands,” said Stephen K. Dolg, Arizona State University. “Lots of such leagues are operated for bragging rights among friends. But when leagues require a significant buy-in with most of the total going to the top handful of fantasy “owners” – that’s gambling.”

WalletHub analyzed March Madness from tip to title with a special emphasis on finance. You can check out all the interesting NCAA tournament stats and facts that they found at https://wallethub.com/blog/march-madness-statistics/11016/#