The history of March Madness
The history of March Madness
March Madness dates to the NCAA's first Division I men's basketball tournament in 1939.
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Transcript
Most people know March Madness as the springtime sports event that takes over news channels, TVs, and social media, but have you ever wondered how March Madness came to be?
Well, the heated competition that would later be recognized as “March Madness” dates back to the NCAA’s first Division I men’s basketball tournament in 1939—which featured a hard-fought final game between Oregon and Ohio State.
At the time, the men’s tournament featured just eight teams, but it steadily expanded over the years to a 64-team format in 1985. In 2011 the NCAA expanded the men’s tournament’s size to 68 teams, which remains the standard.
ANNOUNCER: NCAA basketball final. California, dark shirts, fighting off the final seconds rally of the West Virginian Mountaineers.
The first women’s tournament was a 32-team event held in 1982, and it expanded to its current field of 64 in 1994.
While the term March Madness today is synonymous with the basketball tournaments that have become almost an American tradition, the phrase didn’t have anything to do with the tournaments until 1982, when CBS broadcaster Brent Musburger used it during his coverage of that year’s men’s tournament.
However, the phrase was likely first used in reference to basketball in 1939 by Illinois High School Association official Henry V. Porter, who initially employed the term to describe the intensity and popularity of high-school basketball in Illinois.
In 2022 an estimated 36.5 million people filled out brackets to predict the winners and millions more bet on participating teams, but this kind of popularity is a relatively recent phenomenon.
ANNOUNCER: Loyola tries to tie it, and misses.
The men’s tournament’s first two decades were actually overshadowed by the National Invitation Tournament—a single-elimination collegiate basketball competition that brought in the nation’s best teams and most of the country’s basketball fans.
But by the 1960s, the NCAA had taken the top spot as the organizer of one of the most anticipated sports events of the year, and that legacy carries on today.
Well, the heated competition that would later be recognized as “March Madness” dates back to the NCAA’s first Division I men’s basketball tournament in 1939—which featured a hard-fought final game between Oregon and Ohio State.
At the time, the men’s tournament featured just eight teams, but it steadily expanded over the years to a 64-team format in 1985. In 2011 the NCAA expanded the men’s tournament’s size to 68 teams, which remains the standard.
ANNOUNCER: NCAA basketball final. California, dark shirts, fighting off the final seconds rally of the West Virginian Mountaineers.
The first women’s tournament was a 32-team event held in 1982, and it expanded to its current field of 64 in 1994.
While the term March Madness today is synonymous with the basketball tournaments that have become almost an American tradition, the phrase didn’t have anything to do with the tournaments until 1982, when CBS broadcaster Brent Musburger used it during his coverage of that year’s men’s tournament.
However, the phrase was likely first used in reference to basketball in 1939 by Illinois High School Association official Henry V. Porter, who initially employed the term to describe the intensity and popularity of high-school basketball in Illinois.
In 2022 an estimated 36.5 million people filled out brackets to predict the winners and millions more bet on participating teams, but this kind of popularity is a relatively recent phenomenon.
ANNOUNCER: Loyola tries to tie it, and misses.
The men’s tournament’s first two decades were actually overshadowed by the National Invitation Tournament—a single-elimination collegiate basketball competition that brought in the nation’s best teams and most of the country’s basketball fans.
But by the 1960s, the NCAA had taken the top spot as the organizer of one of the most anticipated sports events of the year, and that legacy carries on today.