JoAn Scott, Managing Director of the NCAA Mens Bas

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up to 60% off other retailers' prices every day. Burlington, love the deals, prices and selection vary by store. What you do anything is how you do everything. If you don't pay attention to detail on the little things, you're not gonna be in the habit of paying attention to detail for the big things. If you don't have the imagination and the willingness to fail or not being

afraid to fail, I don't think you can be truly great. Candace Parker. I have so much hope for this generation coming up that I've grown up with women in sports, in leadership roles, on television, speaking about sports, speaking knowledgeably about sports. To me, all the work that I've done, all the humanitarian work that I've done, has always given me great perspective. It has allowed me to

keep my feet on the ground and has really put and reminded me what's truly important. That was for Seattle. Just to name a few of them. Welcome to sports business radio. Now, here's Brian Burger. Well thanks for joining us on this addiction. This is one of my favorite episodes of the year. Long time friend, Joanne Scott, managing director of the NCAA Men's Basketball Championships. She'll take

us behind the scenes of this year's tournament. Final Four is in Houston. Lots of new things. NIL is in the mix. You're gonna see some student athletes appearing in some of the TV commercials. Jay Wright and Stan Van Gundy are added to the broadcast. Jim Nance. March Madness. He'll be replaced by Ion Eagle. But if you are interested in the operations behind the scenes on selection

Sunday, the broadcast. This is always a great conversation with Joanne Scott. I've known her for gosh 25 years dating back to her days at USA basketball. She worked at Nike and I did some consulting for them. So I've known her for a long time. Now she's been at the NCAA for 10 years. So stay tuned for that interview. This episode of sports business radio is presented

by Morgan Stanley Global Sports and Entertainment. One of Morgan Stanley Global Sports and Entertainment's priorities is guiding their clients and community of student athletes, college coaches and athletic departments, parents and other stakeholders in college athletics to properly and confidently navigate the complexities of NIL. Much of that guidance is through education. And with that effort, Morgan Stanley GSC has partnered with the digital platform. SPRY to provide

financial education to thousands of student athletes, coaches and athletic administrators across the country. Spray is an innovative digital platform providing a streamlined first of its kind one stop shop NIL compliance management communications and education solution for athletic department and their student athletes. Among other tools, Spray gives student athletes the ability to track their income from NIL deals. Limit and understand the potential risk of any potential

NIL activity to protect their NCAA eligibility. And now engage with critical fundamental financial education tools and resources through its collaboration with Morgan Stanley GSC. Streamlining and NIL related activity and processes through an easily accessible and user friendly digital and mobile application. Spray's founder and CEO, Lyle Adams was a 2007 NCAA men's soccer national champion at Wake Forest and professional soccer player in the MLS after his

plane career. Lyle transitioned to the tech industry. It was one of the first 100 employees at Uber designing platforms and tools for data consumers. Lyle also holds a master's in sports management from Columbia University in New York. To learn more about Spray, visit Spray.so that's SPRY.SO or download their app on your mobile app. It's a workload right now but she seems to be loving that she's

doing great. I mean, it's crazy. She has to worry about everything from obviously like, you know, the flights and getting everyone, you know, to their respective sites, boss drivers. Yeah. Obviously the basketball court and then the biggest thing of all the broadcast. That's how most people consume the NCAA tournament. So she's working with CBS and Turner sports and they're having meetings and virtual calls with the

broadcasters and making sure they know about things like NIL. And this is Jay Wright's first tournament. So a lot of things on her plate. But if anyone can handle it, it's Joanne Scott. And I think people will enjoy the conversation this week. All right. Let's look at some sports business headlines before we get to that conversation. This is a really bad one for the NBA and

the Memphis Grizzlies. This is John Morant is away from the Memphis Grizzlies indefinitely after waving a gun and a video on his own Instagram. John Morant has a $200 million contract with the Grizzlies. He has endorsement deals with Nike and Gatorade. He seems very troubled Colorado police are looking into the video. And Griggs, like this is one of the brightest young stars in the NBA. This

isn't the 10th guy on a bench. He's a national commercial. He's a national commercial. And he's just an extraordinary talent. So I'm hoping that people can pull him aside and get him on the straight and narrow. What this reminds me of. Honestly. And we had this person at our sports PR summit event. And he's been on sports business radio. It reminds me of Michael. Yeah. And

if there's one person that I would want John Morant to talk to you. It's Michael. Michael. Vic was in with the wrong crowd. And he wound up in prison. And lost. And he's been on sports business radio. And he's been on sports business radio. And if there's one person that I would want John Morant to talk to you. It's Michael. His contract in the NFL. Lost

his deal with Nike. And most importantly, lost his freedom. This is serious stuff. When you're talking about guns and gangs and, you know, life or death situation. So I hope that people can take John Morant under their wing and help him and put him on the straight path. And hopefully this is a learning experience. But, you know, it's not a good look for job. It's not

a good look for the Grizzlies. And it's not a good look for the NBA. When this is a good look for the NBA. This is one of your stars. Yeah. I think that's, that's a thing. I mean, he is a star. He is definitely a face at the NBA. He's just a exciting player to watch. I think everybody loves this game. Because you just bring so

much excitement to the crowds and everything in life. Live basketball. But, uh, yeah, I think you're right. He needs some guidance. He needs those, those names to step up and guide him through this little patch. You know, I mean, he's 23. He's a young guy. He just needs to get straightened out, figured this out. And I think he can be, you know, he can regain this

career and get right work back where he needs to be. But, uh, he needs some guidance and some direction and some clarity. Figure out, you know, why he's making those choices that just aren't the smartest right now. I mean, we've talked about this on this show for almost 20 years now. These are young people who come into a tremendous amount of money. And they can do

whatever they want. And they've got hangers on. And that is often times a recipe for trouble. When you have the hangers on and you have the people saying, buy me this, take me here and do this. And, you know, I'm going to be in this video and buy guns and, you know, let's be like Scarface and the movies and they all have the Scarface. I mean,

come on. You got to be smarter than that. I mean, talk to Michael, that talk to Steph Curry, talk to Damien Lillard, talk to the guys who've done it the right way. And get on the straight narrow. And, you know, most importantly, be safe. And don't put yourself in a bad situation. So I hope he gets a straightened out. Again, he's away from the team indefinitely.

When you have Colorado police looking into things, that's never good. But we'll see how this turns out. All right. Our next headline, Derek Carr, formerly of the Las Vegas Raiders, signs of four year deal with the New Orleans Saints, the deal four years, 150 million. Some reports have it at $100 million guaranteed money. Griggs, I might be in the mind of order on this. I think

this is a good deal for the Saints. That's not a lot of money for a starting quarterback. I actually think that Carr was in the wrong system with the Raiders. I think he's going to reunite with Dennis Allen, who used to be the coach of the Raiders is now the coach of the Saints. I think he's got some good weapons around him, like Alvin Camara and

Michael Thomas. I don't think he's going to have as much pressure on him. And most importantly, Griggs, I think, I think that's the most important thing. He's in a really crappy division. Tom Brady is gone. The Falcons don't have a quarterback. The Panthers don't have a quarterback. Right now, he's the best quarterback in that division. And it's not close. So you're going to a division where

you're probably going to win a few games just because your division stinks. So I think it's a really good move for him. I think it's going to set him up for success. And I think we're going to look at this a year or two from now, save this clip. And people are going to go, this is a pretty good deal for the Saints. They got good

value. There's a lot of money on Derek Carr for four years and 150 million. Yeah, I think, you know, he's a legit Ashley. He's obviously knows how to throw the ball. He can he can play the game. And I think you're right with the Raiders. I think he kind of was thrown in that system and didn't have the direction and clarity and just the, you know,

staff around him that helped him get to where he needed to be. He's got talent. He's a good player. He seems like a good guy. I think he's going to be a good leader for the Saints. And you make a good point. He's in a horrible division. He can come out there and go four, five, I know you never know if he's playing those division games.

So it'll be great. It's fun to see. I think, you know, he's in a dome. He's in a good part of the country. I think he'll, I think he'll be, be well down there. All right. Our next headline. My friend and former NBA player, Brian Grant. His agent is Mark Bartelstein who represents lots of great NBA and NFL players. I've known Mark for a long time

because I've known Brian since 1998. So what is that 25 years? Well, guess what, Greg's. The guy that I used to see Mark Bartelstein toting around as a young boy is now the CEO of the Phoenix Suns 33 year old Josh Bartelstein has been hand picked by new owner, Matt Ishbia of the Suns to lead the Suns organization. Josh Bartelstein was previously with the Detroit Pistons.

I think this is a good hire, but it's just making me feel really old. Like I remember he was a young boy. He was like seven or eight years old. And now he's the 33 year old CEO of the Phoenix Suns. So congratulations to Josh. I can only imagine how proud his dad Mark is. And I think this is a good hire. You know, it certainly

helps when your first move is the Suns is to go out and trade for Kevin Durant. The Suns are playing well. They had a big win over the Mavericks the other day on national TV. So, you know, I think I'm going to have a great time. A good future ahead if you're 33 years old and you're leading this franchise and you're getting to live in Phoenix

instead of Detroit. That's also a good upgrade, Greg's. Yeah, it'll help with the Sun tan for sure being in Phoenix. But the I agree. I think look, the Suns are just, I mean, their moves in the front office and on the court have been awesome. I mean, they're getting younger in the front office, which is great because it's exciting. It gets fans around it. You don't

have this, you know, old 90 year old run on the show. It's these young kids. No, but seriously, it's these young kids running it. And I love that because it just brings excitement. You know, when you get like a new hire and it's a young guy and he's just pumped up and he's ready to go. New ideas, fresh, fresh eyes. I think it's great. I mean,

the Suns obviously Katie's already. They're three and oh with him. So they're obviously, it's a good move since he's been back or three. So I think the Suns are on the up and up right now. Hey, what the kel bridge is is bawling for the nets. That's true. Yeah, I think they might look back in a few years ago. Oh, remember, we had the kel bridge

is on this team. All right, the last headline. This is an interesting one. Fox business networks, Charles Gasparino reports that NBA Commissioner Adam Silver is on Disney shortlist to replace Bob Eiger as CEO one day. Quote unquote. Griggs, being on a short list for something that's going to happen probably years from now. I just, I'm not buying it. Like, look, I've always said this on the

show. I don't care if you're a GM, if you're coach, whoever you are, it's always good to have the replacements and the shortlist, right? So that you're not shocked. Oh my God, our coach laughter. Oh, the GM left or, you know, this player left and we need another player. Like, always have the shortlist. That's great. I just don't see it. I think Adam Silver loves the

NBA. I think Adam Silver is going to retire one day as Commissioner like David Stern did and we're going to go Adam Silver. I think Adam Silver was Commissioner for 30 years of the NBA. And the Adam Silver still wants to grow the NBA internationally. It's made a lot of strides, but they're still room for growth. I think there's a lot of tacky wants to do

and they are sitting on a new media rights deal that's coming in the future. I know Disney is a huge company, but the NBA is a multi billion dollar company too. It's not like he's going from small potatoes to, you know, something. And most importantly, I just don't see the NBA owners letting Adam lead. They're going to say, Hey, Adam, here's a blank check. What do

you need in order to stay and to be continued to be engaged as is NBA Commissioner. So I saw that story and I kind of raised an eyebrow. Because I was like, well, what's one day? Is that a year from now? Is it 10 years from now? And then also who wouldn't have Adam Silver on a shortlist? Like being a CEO. He's a good guy. Great

executive. Of course, you would put him on a shortlist, but like has he actually talked to Disney about this position? Is there movement in that direction? I just thought it was kind of a headline grabber. I know we're talking about it here, but I'm just not buying it. Yeah, a little bit of clickbait. I think to like you said, he's a he's a baller. He loves

the NBA. You could tell he's passionate about it. He's already made some great moves. People love him. The teams love him. I think the owners love him. I mean, when you're in an industry like that, in the NBA, multi billion, and you love what you're doing and you're being successful at it, why would you leave? And Disney is kind of all over the place. I mean,

they seem like more of a cluster F than anything else. I think the NBA has its problems, but I'd stay in the NBA, especially if you love that, you're obviously going to be just fine financially. And I think he could be like you said, a David Stern where he goes 30, 35 years and then, you know, long time down the road, we finally get our next

commissioner. But I think he to me feels like he'd stay in the NBA. I agree. I will be very surprised. Save this. This clip too, along with the Derek Car one, I will be very surprised. Adam Silver leaves the NBA. And I think just like David Stern, he's a lifer. And this is his dream job. He waited for years for David to retire. He's in the

big seat now. And I just don't see him giving that up, even for a company like Disney. All right. Jolansk got managing director of the NCAA men's basketball championships. Griggs will make our predictions next week. But I got to tell you, and I say this to Jolans, I've walked a tournament my whole life. I'm 54 years old. I can't remember a year where the tournament is

more wide open, like filling out brackets this year is going to be crazy because there's no like, you know, dominant team or even a couple dominant teams. You could see like a 10 seed win the whole thing this year. It's going to be wide open. And I think that's going to make it exciting. Yeah, I think that's one of the things that gets these brackets. Go

and so, you know, it makes it so fun because like you said, you've got anybody can win it this year. And that makes it so fun. I don't know how you're going to pick brackets. I mean, I'm going to start doing that too. This next week. But yeah, picking favorites is going to be tough because there's going to be some 10, 11, 12 that are going

to win some games for sure. All right. Coming up next, Jolansk got managing director of the NCAA men's basketball championships. You're listening to sports business radio. We'll be right back. There's nothing common about you. Now your talent, your drive, your achievements, or even your challenges. You need distinctive financial strategies that match your lifestyle and career trajectory. Morgan Stanley global sports entertainment was created to address your

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backslash GSE. Now back to sports business radio with Brian burger. My guest is Joanne Scott. She is the managing director of the NCAA. The NCAA men's basketball championships. I'm lucky enough that she joins us annually for this conversation. I've known Joanne for many, many years dating back to her time at Nike. Joanne, how are you? I'm good. It's a 75 degree day. I think in Indianapolis

today, which is kind of weird for March. Man, so usually we're in here in the snow and it's not bound to be burned in the midnight oil, but I'm really good. It's March. It's my favorite. I'm going to be in the middle of the night. I'm going to be in the middle of the night. So this year we will be here in Indianapolis, up in a

suburb. It's not Carmel. It's Carmel, India. One of our Marriott hotels, which is a corporate partner of ours. We have 12 committee members. That's new. I think we're in year two of 12 committee. We expanded the committee from 10 to 12. So the room will be the 12 committee members sitting around a very long narrow tables with screens all around them about four screens for committee

member. My boss, Dan Gabbett, and the chair is on one end. And then myself and our programmer, our computer programmer, and two other staff members that help us statistics. So we'll go into the room this Wednesday about noon. And our initial vote will take place soon after that. And then we just, you know, either a scene, select teams throughout the week. We take breaks because of

games going on. And, you know, a lot of good basketball games to be played this week. And then we usually, it's a late night Saturday night. And we lose an hour of daylight savings times this year. But then we get up early Sunday. And we actually don't even begin to bracket. So about Sunday at noon is when we bracket. And then we'll have about six continued.

There's six games. I think that our conference games on Sunday. So we'll have contingency brackets for all those games on who wins and who lives and who doesn't, you know, win their conference tournament because of their seedless of the seedless that we have. So Sunday tends to be the chaotic day. But Brian, for those listening, this year, one of the things we did was we did

a little with Andy Caxx. We did some videos on YouTube. So you can go to YouTube and search, then say, selection videos. And you can see how we prepare. There's one on there about 10 minute videos. How we prepare, how we select, how we see it, and then how we bracket. So we'll give you a really good kind of idea what goes on in the room.

I love that. And I love the transparency. Right? Like a lot of people are like, oh, you know, they might be doing this or that or, you know, I know people will talk about like matchups and regions and former coaches going against their old team and things like that. So I love the fact that people will be able to see these videos. Yeah, we did that

as a educational kind of approach to it for our own coaches and our own director of operations and associate a decent for basketball. We always try to get them in our door room and show them with a mock. But she's too hard. So we decided to do these four short videos to just explain it. In general, it's obviously just a very, you know, really short snippet

of what happens. But it does give you the general overall principles of what we do this week. So I really encourage folks to to Google those videos and take a look. Analytics are being used so much more in sports. How much is analytics used versus like just the eyeball test, right? Yeah. We don't use the eyeball test. So we use various, you know, that's the glory

of a 12 member committee is that everybody has a different approach. Right. Everybody. I would say that the NCAA evaluation tool is an annual as metric we use to sort our team sheets and to sort quad one, two, three, and four wins. But on our team sheets, we also have BPI, API, SAD, and so we we provide several analytics. And again, that's the goal. We have

a 12 member committee. They all kind of rely on some more than others. As you know, some are predictive analytics and some are results based. And some people kind of like lead one way and other committee members lean another and our our NCAA evaluation tool is a mixes both. And mixes both the predictive and results base. So it's very much a part of the selection process.

But again, the human element is very important. Right. The path to the final four. The final four is in Houston this year for the men. Give our audience a concept of how early on are you communicating with Houston and the venue about all of the planning for the final four. And then what's capacity for that huge stadium? So we we started planning with the Houston local

organize many and September of 2021. Wow. Initial meeting. That's our initial meeting said, OK, here's what you need to work on. And then we park that because we're we work at our New Orleans. So then we start go we pick three days a month and we go the same three days. Everybody who needs to meet on the file for whether it's broadcast television, taking everybody goes

the same three days once a month, June through February. And we plan everything through those three days. So we've been meeting with them consistently, such June, once a month, three days. At the end of that three days, we all set and discuss the decisions we've made. On selection Sunday, if not a day after, I believe, no, actually, it's a little bit later because they have the

Houston rodeo. I don't remember where I am. So we'll move in a little bit later than normal, but we will build a basketball stadium within a football stadium. And we will the capacity will be right just around 74,000. Allow. Which is much larger than Houston's text on the game. Again, we have our own seating system and we build it right on the, you know, we removed

the turf and we build it right on. Top of the where the turf would be. So we also have to bring in sound and everything because, you know, there's not sound above the football field. You don't want sound when they're playing football. So it's a big, it's a big setup. It's, it takes a while to set up that everything from the, the sound to the seating

system to record everything. Okay. For this year's tournament. Is there anything new? Is there anything that people should be paying attention to on that road to the final four in Houston? I think we try and mix it up very, you know, we try and mix it up with some like new branding and decor. I think that's one of the things I love that we do with

our final four and we've stuck with this. And this has been a decision of our committee is that we, we curtail the look for the city. And we give it a little local flavor. Yep. And so I think that is always really cool for the city. And then we try and do a little bit different decor in the preliminary rounds. Our courts will be the same.

You know, well, we try. I think what we try to do now is make special moments for the players and how else can we make, you know, those who are playing in those first rounds really feel like they were part of the tournament. So elevating the student app and experience and making sure that decor in the locker rooms and the gifts that we give them are

kids, you know, that what they want to wear. It's a gear they want to wear. So I think a lot of it is behind the scenes. But part of I think what we learned from COVID is people kind of want that, you know, that routine feel of March. And you know, what they see. So probably not too much this year that you'll see there. Next year

is NIL played any part in changes or just fuel of the of the tournament. Yeah, I would say the biggest thing that comes to mind and the biggest thing is just we're saying and college student athletes. I'd say I've been here now 10 years. You leave it. And what I used to see was a lot of professional athletes. What's what it always was was professional athletes

in the ads. And I think what you'll see this year. There's a lot of collegiate student athletes and a lot of the ads being used by our corporate partners. So I love that. That's what it's affected our this is this championship. The most. Yeah. You're listening to sports business radio. We'll be right back after this. 5G is here. Is your stadium ready from an immersive fan

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of sports business radio. Now back to the sports business radio with Brian Berger. So let's talk about the broadcast CBS Turner. I mean, everyone loves this partnership. It's going to run through 2032. At the end of that, I think that will be 22 years that CBS and Turner has been a partner on the NCAA men's basketball championship. This is the last year for Jim Nance, if

I'm correct, right? Yes, the one last final four years going to call. That's correct. The last one shining moment. For Jim Nance. And then I an eagle who I really like is replacing Jim Nance and then also knew this year. And I love these editions. J. Wright, former Villanova coach. And then Stan Van Gundy is also being added to. So, you know, we've seen Stan Van

Gundy on a lot of the NBA coverage. And, you know, he's so knowledgeable as a former coach. I'm really excited to see J. Wright. If you look at the last, you know, 10, 15 years in this tournament, he's had his much success as anyone. So for him to be able to bring that perspective to the broadcast, I think it's going to be great. Yeah, we just

went to Atlanta last week ago yesterday. No, we go today. And had our Turner CBS meetings. And it's so exciting because it does, you know, you learn all this. You know, a lot of this comes together last minute. I think J. Wright has been phenomenal on the regular season games that he's done. He's just fantastic. And what I love about March Vannis and, you know, he's

just like being on a selection show is he's been there. But he's been there when he's raised the trophy to one shining moment. And he's been there when he's been knocked out in the first round. Yeah. And so he knows the coaches and what's going through players minds. And I just think the coach's perspective that he brings will be a, well, it's just a really good

addition. And so I'm excited for it. I think Stan will bring like you said, just a different opinion. I think it's good to mix that up every now and then again, as well. And he brings his personality and coach, his coaching mentality as well. So I'm excited for it. And then I love Charles Barkley in the studio, right? I mean, yeah, they play the game for

the NBA where, you know, he's got a guest. Is this a player or not? And you bring him into college and he was a great collegiate player at Auburn. But it's just so much fun because, you know, he gets to talk about the college. Game as opposed to the, to the pro game. But when you go to these meetings, what's that like? How many broadcasters are

there? That's got to be a lot of fun. Well, the meeting last Monday was more, it was more, I'd say probably production tomorrow. We will do. There will be a press. There's actually a press. Kind of video conference at 11 with the talent. And I think Jim Nance and Grant and Rafty and Tracy are going to be a part of that. That's virtual now. And then

tomorrow afternoon, we will do a virtual seminar with all the talent, putting Charles and Kenny and Clark and Seth for everybody in between everyone. All the play by play. We do a Q&A with Chris Rastetter, our coordinator officials. And it's their time to just ask the questions. We want them to be educated. We want them to understand rules when their rules play, you know, called the

way it is. And then we just give them a little update and speaking points on other things like name images like this. Transurfing. Portal things like that. So that's tomorrow's seminar virtually. Yeah. Is there anything new with the production camera angles, anything that we should be looking for within the broadcast? Yeah, there is. But we always still miss so early. I can't tell you yet. Okay.

So there's an exciting thing. Okay. So you're teasing it. There's things to look out for. That's good. So yeah, there are things to look out for. Yeah. And Houston especially. Oh, yeah. Yeah. All right. Um, the app, the app continues to grow as man is live. Yeah. Yeah. I, I, I love it. Um, you can walk the games from anywhere on any device. Um, you know,

I remember back in the day when there was like the boss button at work. Yeah. Press the boss button and yeah. That's spread. We still have it. We still have it. Stay tuned there. And that's it. That's a new and approved. Why we'll look out for that boss button this year. Okay. I like that. But I like that. It is like how the app has grown.

What kind of growth have you guys seen year over year? I would imagine it. It's really strong. It is. It is. And actually, um, I think we're at 19 platforms, different platforms this year. Wow. Um, and we're actually live right now during college tournament. That's some of the feedback. They're doing some storytelling and some large talk montage channels. Um, so for both men and women, by

the way. And so, um, they're just coming gearing up to, um, to, to the tournament. But it's, I think they'd have a, you know, the most incredible thing is you can just read so many statistics. How many starts? How many hours? Whether they're on a phone, whether they're on a laptop, you know, where they're, you know, how long they're watching it. Um, all the above. And

it's always interesting to find out, like, the first game. When people are trying to, you know, watch and log on and make sure it works. And how many people? And just the, the various games of the, um, the readings and watching how it is. But it's, I think, to have a phenomenal job. You'll see some, some things there as well of watching. Everything and what they're

running and advancing that as well. But yeah, it's, it's an incredible asset. And the folks there, uh, um, Warner Brothers discovery, do a phenomenal job with that app and in our folks here at the NCAA. So that leads into the sponsor question. Cause sponsors love to see all those analytics. Right. How many hours? Who's watching? What are they watching? All of that stuff. You're three main

sponsors again are AT&T Coca Cola Capital One. Uh, I know you have other sponsors as well. But it seems like I see those commercials over and over and over again. How besides the TV commercials, are you activating these sponsorships? Yeah, we do a lot of, uh, I think they're all a little bit different. And the way they activate, I would say to you, um, which is

because they, they have, you know, different demographics. They're focused on, um, a lot or more, they all do a lot of stuff at retail. But what we see is that preliminary rounds, um, activation, a lot of sampling, but Coca Cola as they're exiting. But really, I would say the thing to you in Houston is that they all three have found a way to work together. And

they sponsor our music festivals. So Friday, you know, so like, yeah. So Friday night is the AT&T GM festival. And then Saturday is Coca Cola. And then Sunday is Capital One. And so they've all found, and then they all, you know, identify the genre of position that they want to be, uh, performing that night. So they've even found ways to work together when they're in the

city of the funnel for. And then obviously, uh, at site, uh, within our fan fest at the, uh, George, our Brock convention center in Houston, they'll activate as well with our fan fest and other things. But those are things that come to mind. And again, you said something new this year because of NIL, like current student athletes might be incorporated into some of the things, whether

it's commercials or some of these appearances or things like that. I think that's great. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's like, yeah. And that's what I think is the differentiator this year. It was very, pretty new last year. But I think this year, um, you know, a lot, a lot, a lot of our corporate partners have already signed NIL agreements with student athletes throughout the regular season of

college sports. And I, and also, yeah. That's great. Um, okay. The stipend for the families. I know this is something that you guys added to double a added a few years ago. Again, for people who may not understand what that is, how it works. Can you explain that to our audience? I think it's great. What you guys are doing. Yeah. I think it was 2015, um,

where the CFP and the NCAA both came to the, uh, worked with, uh, legislation to provide $3,000 in trial expenses to the families of 15 student athletes on each day. And that's for both men and women's basketball. And that is to help alleviate travel costs, hotel meals. Um, that is up to the, we give, we give the, uh, funds to the NCAA. It's up for them

from the NCAA to the university. They distribute it first student athlete to the families. If you, uh, advanced to the final four, then you are, uh, then the school is advanced to another thousand dollars for student athlete. So if your son or daughter playing, uh, playing in the final four, you get $4,000. And if you play in the semi finals, it's $3,000. You've got very good

fee ball from that. Um, and again, that's up to the schools on how they distribute it. How they a lot for it and receipts or no, that's all up to the schools to, uh, to manage. But it's been, it was, you know, applauded in year one and every year. It's amazing how many people are so appreciative for it. Well, you talked earlier about the student athlete

experience. Uh, that's got to be at the top of the list. Yeah. Yeah. Their parents or their family at their event, especially the final four. Yeah. So doing that allows those families who may not be able to afford to come, to be able to come walk them. And that's just wonderful. Yeah. And then also I think, I hope some of those student athletes don't worry about.

Right. And some of, in some cases, like, I mean, I'm having to worry about that. Yeah. Um, all right. I always ask you this question. Your schedule during the tournament, it's crazy. Yeah. Peter O'Reilly from the NFL on every year. We talk about. He's running around. Yeah. But you know, Peter is doing pro bowl. Then he's going to the side of the Super Bowl. You're like

a jet setter all over the guy speaking of NIL deals. I want anyone listening to this. I think Joanne needs her own private jet deal. Like, can we get a private that deal for Joanne and NIL deal so you can fly. I mean, you're doing a lot of flying. You actually changed a little. It's changed a little. Actually, let me hear. I shifted last year. Um,

so I will be in the selection room. Morning, noon and I from Wednesday till late Sunday after the bracket. To the bracket goes out. We have several media interviews. And then we're, you know, we're just bursting 68 planes. Not not quite 68 planes. But at least 50 planes. If not more. And we're working, you know, pretty late until the night trying to make sure travel goes

well. And then I drive over to date from Indianapolis for the first four. And I'm there. And then I leave their Wednesday before the actual last first four game. And I fly to Atlanta to the Turner studios. Okay. And then I just last year. There's the first time I've done this. I'm normally flying to have four different persons like around. But I now in the control

center. Um, kind of problem solving. Okay. Being that. I'm the command center of when it hangs goes wrong. So I'm there with Chris Rastetter. Um, our, our coordinator officials and with Turner and CVS and other staff members. Um, to, to be there to problem solving. Then I come back home. Enough to wash clothes and leave and say a day. And then I, and then I go

to I'll be in, I'll go New York. I already got a New York. And then I'll go Louisville for the sweet 16 and then I'll go Vegas. We're in Las Vegas for the very first time. Yeah with an NCAA championship. Um, I'm going to get a new job. So they'll lead eight and end up in Kansas City. Uh, and then I'll fly into Houston and on

the Monday after the lead eight. And I'll be there for a week. Yeah. So it's pretty much the month of March. You're listening to sports business radio. We'll be right back after this. Underdog fantasy is the easiest place to play fantasy sport. It's also the fastest growing fantasy app in the industry. Your fantasy leagues might be over. You can still play fantasy sports games on underdog

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forget to register with my promo code SBR like sports business radio to get your first deposit doubled up to $100. Must be 18 plus and present in the state where underdog fantasy operates terms apply concerned with your play. Call 1 800 522 4700 or visit www dot ncp gambling dot org. Now back to sports business radio with Brian burger. By the way, so there's games at

Madison Square Garden. Am I just silly or has that not happened for a while? I don't think it went to last time. It happened this late. And I'm going to see what happens. Yeah, they hosted the sweet 16. I'll be they may be four or five years. Okay. And they're supposed to they're supposed to host during when we canceled in 2020. So that's why it was

probably 2018 or before. But yeah, now it hadn't been for a while before then. But yeah, but they have hosted their great hope. Yeah. That's going to be an amazing atmosphere for the teams to get to play there. I mean, all the venues are great. Yeah, but you know, I think Madison Square got out. So all right. So you're you're scheduled isn't as crazy, but you're

still going to be traveling for weeks. Give me an example. I mean, it doesn't have to be anything crazy. We like you talked about problem solving. You're sitting in the command center. Like, what would a problem? But is it, you know, something that's beneficial? Is it something with the court? Like what would a problem? Yeah. It can be a lost bus driver. And that's, you know,

that's maybe not saying a day because the team is tweeting about it. They're playing that's had a link. And then we did I heard about on Twitter to, but no one I think about that's probably more relatable, which is as simple as. We had a piece of court. You know, we move all of our courts in. And somebody was noticing and pointing. We can see the

media were pointing at something. The floor like maybe it was there was a lifted edge. And it right, you know, right inside of the three point line. Well, you don't want to delay the game, but you don't you get a word about player safety. So at a time out, we were like, we didn't want to send people out there and go, you know, hey, go check

out the floor. So what we did is send a ball kit out with a ball kit supervisor. And they're like sweeping the floor. Like there's a spot there. And they're trying to determine, you know, is it bad or what is it? And so it wasn't as bad. We got through that game. And then between game as we solve it. But then it's solving like, okay, how

long is this game going to be delayed? And then turn CBS is figuring out what to do with programming and so that. So it's a little things like that to just buses. And there's a lot of things that we can do. We've got to move parts as you know, every year. So it's just, it's just that kind of problem solving. You need like a student intern

who's just doing nothing other than monitoring social media. Yeah. If people are tweeting about property, we got a bus driver of the thing. Or we got a boy I'm doing this. That's how we usually find out a lot because as much as that are our primary ministry is a really good reaching out to us. Kids tweet with kids tweet. You know, it can be simple things.

But you know, you know, you really do read a lot on Twitter and social media. So it's just monitoring all the above and trying to. Now all of our sites too, if they're having issues, they call us because they're on site. They need to be focused. So they're also sending us issues of, hey, we've got more media than we have, you know, seats for. How should

we solve it? I remember one year we had some reason the venue had doubled booked some seats. And so we had more more fans and we had seats. So it's not. I was trying to work with them and do all that in the, you know, in the control center instead of having to have them worry about it on site. How many cell phones are you're carrying

during this turn? You know, I'm gone down to one. I was carrying a like I called it though, you know, the fun phone of, you know, friends of family phone and then work phone. It's just too much. And by the time, you know, you're on, you know, instant messaging and you're texting and you're emailing and you got a radio and you're like, you're too meant to.

It's just overloads. I'm down to one. Good for you. Yeah, I am. How many people are on that? NCAA staff helping you produce this. I know you have people at the venues and, you know, they're hosted by schools in that area. But on the NCAA staff, your staff, how many people are on the staff? So we have about 12 full time men's basketball staff that Scott

Brown runs our division three championship and Alex Mordelaro and friends are an IT championship, but they also help us with the tournament. So 12 full time men's basketball staff. But I would say for battle four and if you said to me, who's working on basketball, men's basketball, it's between 45 and 50. Okay. And when we get to it now, they're also working on ticketing for the

college world series and PR for other groups. And so there's, you know, there's various broadcasts with Beach volleyball. So they're working on other championships and they work on our championships during the winter and and bring, you know, a little bit every day. But full time men's basketball is 12. All right, just a couple of minutes left. I was at Duke as I told you before. And

a few things blew me away. Number one, 12 of the 13 scholarship players have agents now. Can you believe that? They have agent. And I was like, wow, this is really. Yeah. But the other thing that really struck me, I mean, this is obvious is no more coach K, you have John Shire. And, you know, I talked to coach Shire for a little bit. So you

don't have the J right. So you don't have the Roy Williams. You don't have to coach K as you've got kind of a new breed of coach oftentimes younger like coach Shire. What do you hear from the coaches? Because you have such amazing relationships with the coaches. That's something that's always struck me about you. Whether it is when you work at USA basketball, Nike, now in

this job, but it seems like there's a new wave of younger coaches that are replaced. Some of the legends. And I'm sure they have their own thoughts on things. What are some of the things that you might hear from them? Then I'm sure are innovative. And, and good ideas from time to time. Well, first of all, let me say, and I still live from Charles Barkley.

If you, I mean, I love you, says it all the time. I remember when Dean Smith and Lou Wilson and Lou Ensign and all that. They all retire. And I'm going, oh my gosh, what's going to have college basketball? And there's always this next like, you know, generation. And so I'm, I'm, you know, Roy Williams is retired and Jay coach K, but yet yet we have

the marked views and the next generation of young ball like John Shire. I think what's the difference now is the NIL really does probably challenge them coaching. Like it hasn't any of their predecessors. And I said at the NCAA, I think people, and you know, I've only been here 10 years, but a lot of people say, hey, what's happened since, you know, name image, likeness and

transfer portal. That's more change than it happened at the NCAA in 70 years. So that, trivia pertains to coaching. It's a different world. You have to, you have to have, you know, the ability for players to have agents. And like, dude, so I think it's adapting to it more being than just playing, you know, coaching basketball. Um, so I would say that that's probably, uh, one

of the things that I hear the most is just a different approach. And it's a different balance of what they focus on. All right. Let's talk about the future sites for the final four. I'm always impressed. Like you guys have this like laid out. Like again, Peter O'Reilly. I'll talk to him. Here's it's usually three or four years ahead. Yeah. You guys have this laid out

to 2030. I'm like, you can cow. This is, you know, who knows what the world's going to look like. I can, yeah. 2030. But are this tournament? Yeah. Right. I mean, we've got Houston this year. Then you've got Phoenix, my hometown in 2024, 2025 is San Antonio and the Alamo Dome. What? 2026 is Indianapolis and Lucas Oil Stadium. And I know that Indy's in the rotation

and at Tom of the NCAA. Then in 2027 Detroit Ford Field, which I like that, you know, you're spreading in around to some cities. As you mentioned earlier, 2028, the first time ever in Las Vegas, almost at a legent stadium, 2029 back in Indianapolis. Well, and then 2030 AT&T. So those are some big boy stadiums and some major venues. But I would think in your job

that it helps you that you kind of know where this is going over the next several years. So as you're planning, you can say, look, this is what we need to do to plan accordingly. And getting more with Vegas, but we, we, we have 10 to 12 dome stadiums that we can go to. More being built again. But so therefore, we have to lay that out

because that also includes the convention center that we need for our fan fest and our NC and the NAVC convention and the hotel room block. So when you put the venue with the hotels and the convention center at limited to 10 to 12 cities, we have to get out because there's so much business in the convention, especially post-COVID-Blier at. I mean, like people are booking things

so far out because they rolled it forward when they couldn't have it in 2021 or 2022. So that's what we do. But we just announced those. We just announced those last, that last fall. So we're, we're good here for a few years to get far out. But we try to stay that far out. Do explain to our audience. Do you select the venue or is there

a process where people can come to you and say, Hey, we really want to, like I think of a stadium like SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles. So there for what a beautiful facility. If they said one day, you know what, we want to get in the, in the mix and be in consideration for hosting the final four. Do they come to you? Do you go to

that? Yeah, we sent out the bid specs and we send them out to anybody who's interested and they could do it. Obviously, it's an outdoors. I mean, it's not completely enclosed. So yet, weather concerns and, and you know, you know, temperature concerns and, you know, just condensation on venues that aren't, you know, enclosed, which is why we're playing in this, it's an airship championship. So, but

we sent out bid specs. So anybody that has, you know, a dome stadium can apply. And as long as you align with one of our University still host, then anyone can submit a bit, the bid process for the bid process. Yeah, I mean, now the point that out, like it really does kind of limit the venue because it has to be closed. Yeah, you don't want

slippery basketball court. No, really, like that. Uh, Gillian Scott, managing director NCAA men, basketball championships. Thank you so much. I always look forward to this conversation. Just so impressed by you and everything that you do and all the things that you juggle during the month of March. And, you know, it's just an event that everyone loves and it seems to get better and better every year.

Yeah, my line is embrace the joy of March handles because it does bring a lot of joy to a lot of people of March. And you probably have to sleep like the whole month of February in preparation for March. No, I even very red. I don't think it's really capable. So, but we try to tell ourselves a couple of things. I stole from Tony Bennett after

Virginia had gotten beat. Well, when they got beat by UNBC, our University Baltimore America. Um, you beat, yeah, you know what I mean. But anyway, um, he said be where your feet are. His team when they came out the next year. And then they won the national championship. So, you know, when you're running a Vids, you're always trying to think the week ahead and other things

or whatever. So we try and be where our feet are and we try and we do embrace the joy of March. Madness every day. Well, I'll tell you this. I've been watching the tournament my entire life. I cannot remember a year where there's more parity. I think this thing is I grow. I open. Why don't bring it? And I think it's going to make it a

lot of fun to watch. I think so too. I do. I think so. I think I think it's going to be fun to see what happens because I'm not sure anybody, you know, knows. Yeah. Alright, Joanne, thank you so much for joining us on sports business radio. It's an honor. Good luck. Thank you. When it comes to your health and longevity, you hold nothing back. You

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off the entire inside track or store. Just go to inside tracker.com forward slash SBR. That's inside tracker.com forward slash SBR. Well, that's it for this edition of sports business radio. Thanks for tuning in. Thanks to our team at sports business radio. Brian Griggs, Josh Blank, Ryan Nakajima. And our friends at CG sports who power sports business radio. CG Young, Matt Amarlin, Nicole Wardle and Calvin Works.

I'm Brian Burger. Have a great week. And we'll talk to you soon right here on sports business. Radio. This and every SBR podcast is available on Apple podcasts. Spotify, Stitcher and your favorite listening app. Follow sports business radio on Facebook, Twitter at SBRadio, Instagram at sports business radio. And online at sportsbusinessradio.com. Sports business radio is produced by Brian Griggs and Griggs Productions. GriggsProductions.com.