You will fill out brackets (and many of you will bet on them), celebrate buzzer-beaters and share memes of sad fans. This is guaranteed in March. But what I’m not sure about is whether you will watch the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship on April 7 in San Antonio.

Why? Well, the men’s final has produced historically low viewership over the past two years. Connecticut’s 75-60 win over Purdue last year averaged 14.82 million viewers across TBS (7.40M), TNT (6.20M) and truTV (1.22M), the second-least watched title game in history.

What was the lowest? That came two years ago, with Connecticut’s win over San Diego State. The Huskies’ 17-point blowout victory drew 14.69 million viewers on CBS.

For context: Ten years ago, Duke’s win over Wisconsin averaged 28.3 million viewers. UNC-Gonzaga averaged 23 million viewers on CBS eight years ago.

Is the blip based on the matchups and margins of victory over the last two years, a trend about the one-and-done nature of men’s college basketball, and does it even matter?

The executives of CBS and TNT Sports, now in their 14th year as media partners for the men’s NCAA Tournament, point to the rising numbers in the earlier rounds of the tournament as an indicator of health.

For instance, last year’s first Saturday games averaged 10.8 million viewers, the most-watched second-round Day 1 ever. The opening Thursday-Friday-Saturday games — filled with upsets – averaged 9.0 million viewers. The social media numbers have never been better.

But the championship game is still the showcase of the sport — the game that means the most as far as where the business of college basketball is at the moment. And the data suggests men’s college basketball needs a boost.

The NCAA, CBS and TNT Sports worked together to move the start time of the national championship game 30 minutes earlier this year, from 9:20 p.m. (ET) to 8:50 p.m. (ET). That is the most significant change for viewers in 2025.

“The reality is later start times often help with viewership,” CBS Sports CEO and president David Berson said. “If the game’s close at the end, the viewership is going to be there. Oftentimes the later you go, the more you have the viewers to start at the beginning of the telecast.

“But we also understand that we want to appeal to people of all ages. The later you go, the more challenging that is. It’s us working with the NCAA to be more fan-friendly. We’re happy that we’re able to move it a half-hour early, and hopefully, it can give some younger people an opportunity to see more of the game.”

The move was celebrated with near-universal acclaim from those who cover the sport. Whether it juices the viewership is something we will learn next month. Below, we offer a viewer’s guide to the CBS Sports/TNT Sports coverage as men’s college basketball attempts to get its viewership groove back.

Nuts and bolts of viewing the tournament

Sure. CBS Sports and TNT Sports have live coverage of all 67 games of the tournament. The coverage runs across four national television networks: TBS, CBS, TNT and truTV. All games are streamed on NCAA March Madness Live. Games airing on TBS, TNT and truTV will also stream live on Max, while games airing on CBS also will stream live on Paramount+.

CBS will televise the Final Four, beginning with the national semifinals on Saturday, April 5, and then the national championship on Monday, April 7. It is the 43rd time CBS has broadcast the men’s NCAA basketball championship.

What is the network breakdown?

• CBS will broadcast 24 games throughout the tournament including the championship game, semifinals, Elite Eight, Sweet 16 and first and second rounds.
• TBS will televise 18 games, including the Elite Eight, Sweet 16 and first- and second-round games.
• truTV will air or simulcast 21 games, including the First Four, Elite Eight, Sweet 16 and first- and second-round games.
• TNT will televise 12 games, including first- and second-round games.

Who will call the Final Four?

It’s the same group as last year. Ian Eagle, Bill Raftery, Grant Hill and Tracy Wolfson will call the national semifinals and national championship. Gene Steratore will serve as rules analyst throughout the tournament and will be on-site in San Antonio for the Final Four.

What are the early-round broadcast assignments?

Just click on this link. The top team of Eagle, Raftery, Hill and Wolfson were assigned to Duke’s regional, which is no surprise. That’s your top television draw. The excellent Andrew Catalon, Steve Lappas and Evan Washburn group would be looking at a potential St. John’s versus either Arkansas or Kansas. That’s Rick Pitino against either Bill Self or John Calipari.

What is the biggest announcer news?

I’d say it’s the addition of Jalen Rose, the longtime ESPN analyst who was part of that company’s contract purge in 2023. Rose will work as a game analyst for the first two rounds and as a studio analyst during the First Four and Final Four.

Also, look for multiple tributes to Greg Gumbel throughout the tournament. Gumbel, who passed away in December at 78, was part of the tournament’s coverage from 1997 to 2023. CBS had a lovely tribute to Gumbel at the start of the NCAA Selection Show on Sunday.

“Greg was such a huge part of CBS and this tournament for decades,” Berson said Berson. “I don’t think you can find a finer gentleman in all of television. We all miss him dearly. We’ll have several tributes to him throughout the tournament.”

On the production end, Ken Mack takes over as the lead producer on the top team.

What are all the announcing teams?

Here you go:

Will the “Inside The NBA” guys be in the studio?

They will. Ernie Johnson will host studio coverage from the CBS Broadcast Center in New York with Charles Barkley, Clark Kellogg and Kenny Smith. Adam Lefkoe will host studio coverage from TNT Sports Studios in Atlanta alongside Jay Wright, Candace Parker and Seth Davis. Adam Zucker also will serve as a host from New York. Wally Szczerbiak and Wright will make appearances from the CBS Broadcast Center. Jamie Erdahl, now the host of NFL Network’s Good Morning Football, will provide game updates.

What is the first game?

The tournament begins on Tuesday with the First Four on truTV. No. 16-seeded teams St. Francis and Alabama State play at 6:40 p.m. (ET), followed by No. 11-seeds North Carolina versus San Diego State at around 9:10 p.m. (ET). Spero Dedes, Jim Spanarkel and reporter Jon Rothstein call the First Four from Dayton, Ohio. Studio coverage for the First Four will originate from Atlanta with Lefkoe, Davis, Rose and Wright.

Are more people watching the tournament from home because of hybrid work setups?

The anecdotal data suggests yes. “The first round viewership we had last year was the highest ever,” TNT Sports CEO and president Luis Silberwasser said. “It’s hard to know exactly if people are watching it at work or home, but in some cases, we’ve seen an increase in connected devices so you could attribute that to people sort of working from home and watching it in the first round.”

What does it mean for a New York City-based team to have a shot at winning?

“I grew up 10 minutes from the St. John’s campus so in the 1980s, when the Red Storm were nationally relevant with great players and great teams, that was part of what attracted me to college basketball as a young person,” Eagle said. “To see it now all these years later, there is electricity in New York City. It’s legitimate. You can feel it. (Raftery) and I called a St. John’s game of the Garden very recently, and it was a packed house. I think it has an impact on a national scale because it gets a part of the country involved that sometimes doesn’t have much of a rooting interest.”

Any viewership predictions?

My prediction is that viewership overall will be down from last year, but the title game will increase. The combination of the game airing on CBS and the earlier start time should pump up things a couple of million.

One trend that suggests the tournament will be down came last week when Duke-North Carolina’s second regular-season game drew 2.998 million on ESPN. Their first meeting on Feb. 1 drew 2.29 million. That’s below where those games for Zion Williamson’s 2018-2019 season at Duke (4.16 million and 4.34 million), per Sports Business Journal’s Austin Karp.

Duke-North Carolina is the sport’s signature rivalry and a bellwether where the viewership is in late March. Last year’s men’s tournament averaged 9.86 million viewers per window across CBS, TBS, TNT and truTV, per Sports Media Watch, up 3 percent in viewership from 2023.

What are the networks saying about expanding the men’s tournament to 76 teams?

“(NCAA head) Charlie (Baker) and Dan (Gavitt, NCAA senior vice president of basketball) have said publicly that they’re exploring it,” Berson said.

“This is an event that captivates the country for three weeks every year. There’s nothing like March Madness. As they’re looking to see if there are tweaks to be made, I think everyone’s just being diligent and smart and careful because while we might want to enhance it, given the change in the college landscape that can justify expanding by a few teams.

“No one wants to do anything that’s going to take away from how special this tournament is. It’s more in their lap their ours. As a partner, we work with them to see how we can best maximize it. But no one wants to do anything that’s going to negatively impact this tournament.”

(Photo: Jamie Squire / Getty Images)