NCAA tournament moves men’s championship game tip-off to earlier time
The NCAA has turned back the clock 30 minutes for the Monday night start of its men’s basketball tournament championship game.
Gone is the 9:20 p.m. tip-off time that challenged all but the biggest fans to remain awake for “One Shining Moment.” This year’s championship game in San Antonio will start at 8:50 p.m. Eastern on April 7.
That follows the 2022 decision to move up kickoff in the College Football Playoff championship game starting in 2023. It also takes place on a Monday night and was bumped up from an 8 p.m. start, with the Jan. 20 game between Ohio State and Notre Dame won by the Buckeyes kicking off at 7:45.
World Series games, another target of viewers’ ire, continued to start at 8:08 p.m. last year. NBA Finals games last year were scheduled for 8 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.
The NCAA’s move comes after last year’s championship game drew barely improved ratings numbers over 2023’s historic low and were dwarfed by the women’s title game between Iowa and South Carolina. The men’s game between Connecticut and Purdue drew 14.8 million viewers across TBS, TNT and TruTV, according to Nielsen. That was a slight increase over the 2023 game between Connecticut and San Diego State (14.7 million) but still was the second-lowest-rated ever. The women’s final, which took place on Sunday afternoon, drew 18.7 million viewers across ESPN and ABC, becoming the most-watched women’s basketball game ever.
There has been no change to the tip-off time for this year’s women’s championship game, which will start at 3 p.m. Eastern on April 6 in Tampa.