Per The Wrap and TV Line, ABC's press release says it's "36 students from 36 colleges and universities from across the country, battling head-to-head for nine days of intense competition."
It was originally announced as a team event with, I believe, 16 schools represented, so I'm curious if Michael Davies called an audible on this when he became EP.
With the exception of the final night, the tournament will run opposite NBC's Winter Olympics coverage, so I can see some experimenting in terms of format, but what that "experimentation" is, I have no clue.
JD
I think it has to be teams just because of the scheduling- if you set it up where it's 36 individuals it gets awkward:
eps 1-6 qualification (2 games, 3 different players per game)
eps 7-8 semifinals (12 winners play off)
ep 9 final (2-game final- but with 4 winners? The 4-player Super Jeopardy games in 1990 were strange to say the least)
or you do qualification games with 4 players which is the same issue.
The simplest way I think is they do 18 teams of two.
eps 1-6 qualification (each person of the team plays one of the two games in the hour)
eps 7-8 semifinal (6 winning teams playoff)
ep 9 final (2 winners plus high scoring runner-up)
And depending on what schools are involved, you could have fun with the pairs:
Traditional Rivals (Ohio State/Michigan)
Different Locations (University of Alaska/University of Hawaii)
Same Mascots (Gonzaga Bulldogs/Georgetown Bulldogs)
etc.
