[quote name=\'clemon79\' date=\'Mar 29 2004, 10:25 AM\'] On top of that, for a network that relies so heavily on college sports to flesh out their sports package (remember, they run the College World Series as well in conjunction with ESPN, in addition to their extensive college football coverage), the goodwill that CBS's continued support of the Dance harbors from the NCAA is more than worth whatever ratings hit they might take. [/quote]
Actually, ESPN/ESPN2 now has exclusive TV rights to the College World Series (money as always is an issue, but another possible factor might be the decision to reformat the championship to a "best of three," effective with last year's tourney). Other than CBS' SEC football package, the Army-Navy game, the Sun Bowl and a few seasonal highlight packages (maybe a couple of gymnastics things as well), the bulk of CBS' NCAA involvement is their hoops investment. CBS doesn't really recoup much on LSU's split national title other than being the network that carried many of their regular season games, with ABC having carried LSU's Sugar Bowl game vs. Oklahoma (and ABC still has at least two more B[C]S seasons to go).
Doug