The football water is warm. The basketball water is not in my opinion. In football, it will be the same old schools getting more money to play. Viewership won’t go down.
In basketball people like conference tournaments and challenges between conferences during the season but they don’t draw eyeballs like the NCAA tournament.
I’m of the opinion that conferences like the Big East will be fine as they will be brought along to make the tournament a true national championship and not a conference tournament.
60 football schools is not enough for a basketball championship. It won’t drive enough interest in my opinion. A ridiculous amount of people watch the tournament on the first and second weekend because of the underdog and because they want to see how their conference winner does even if it’s not their team. You can’t underestimate those eyeballs.
The Big East will make the cut for the national championship tournament in its next iteration no matter what. I think it would still take at least 200 teams to choose from to make it legitimate and keep enough viewership.
Hopefully I and others with this opinion will be right. If not, no more college basketball viewership for me.
I don't buy your theory that people won't watch. The Super Bowl still generates high ratings in St. Louis, despite the fact that St. Louis no longer has a team--not only that but their team was unceremoniously uprooted and taken from them.
Twice.
Yet they still watch because it's a major sporting event, not because "their" team is in it.
https://recentlyheard.com/2022/02/18/super-bowl-ratings-higher-in-st-louis-than-los-angeles/I also think you're ignoring the impact of those who will continue to hype the legitimacy of the championship, starting with the television networks that broadcast it to the conferences that still participate to their still massive fan bases. You'll be part of a small minority trying to push the "not legit" argument going up against some pretty big megaphones.
Consider a Wisconsin championship in this hypothetical future where Marquette is out of the picture.
Nearly everyone in the state will recognize that championship as legitimate. Every TV network. Every newspaper. Every sports network. Businesses throughout the state will celebrate "our team's championship" with everything from celebrations for their employees to special promotions (get your exclusive Bucky Championship T-Shirt with a fill-up at Kwik Trip!). Do you really think you'll win the argument that the championship isn't legit?
It would be disappointing for sure, but I just don't see this evolving the way you think it will.