The Triplecast Lives Again...In March Madness

For the first time, basketball fans can literally see every game of the NCAA Basketball Tournament. The new deal with the NCAA allows fans to choose between CBS, truTV, TBS and TNT to see their favorite teams, or at least a game that's more interesting than the others.
The only odd thing about this is truTV actually being a sports channel for a few days. It's about as strange as Lifetime carrying the WNBA for a while.
So why spread the NCAA basketball wealth on cable, rather than subtly suggest that getting a special channel on DirecTV to see all of the games would be better?
Two words: Olympic Triplecast.
I'm an old man, compared to the average age of people who write blogs. I remember when Pay-Per-View channels were new, when you could still hear what was happening even if the picture was scrambled. That was 1992, and it was the year NBC decided to offer live coverage of the Summer Olympics in Barcelona for a fee. Remember the Red, White and Blue Channels? They expected people who just HAD to see the Olympics live to pay a fee to get that chance.
Well, that didn't work. In fact, they discounted the price almost immediately, and even simulcasted the pictures on CNBC. That's why NBC decided to just spread the events to its cable channels four years later.

However, the idea of letting cable channels pick up the less popular Olympic events did work out for NBC. For one thing, it helped curling pick up fans in the past three Winter Olympics.
When CBS approved a new deal with the NCAA for the men's basketball tournament, it realized that whipping around from one game to another is no way to cover a billion-dollar event. So, they set up their own "quadruple-cast", with TBS, TNT and truTV carrying games at the same time. It also came up with a bar on top to show the scores of the other games happening on the other channels. Turner Sports and CBS know fans will be turning to their favorite teams or the most exciting game, but they still benefit.
So, why not offer this to, say, new satellite subscribers of DirecTV, or maybe a premium cable channel like the NFL RedZone?
Because still remember how much of a flop the Triplecast was. If you can offer people a special event, and avoid charging them for it aside from commercials, do it!That's one reason why the World Series and the Super Bowl will be on free TV forever. Anyone who tries to turn them to PPV events would be considered worse than al-Qaeda.

So, the idea of the Triplecast does live on, but in the best way: not charging fans for something they'll figure out a way to see for free.
After all, who needs a Triplecast when there's Twitter, Facebook, and certain ways to see PPV stuff for free?

Will Sacramento Ever Host NCAA Basketball Again?

Last September, Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson said on his blog that Arco Arena was no longer considered an ideal place to hold NCAA basketball regional playoffs. Compared to some of the newer NBA arena that are hosting such games, this may have been inevitable. The city is finally getting closer to building a new arena near downtown, which is bound to bring the NCAA back.

That being said, it's too bad the NCAA women's basketball regionals didn't attract more of a crowd, considered they'll be the last playoff games that will be played at Arco for some time. After all, Stanford's there, and that should have brought in more fans. However, look at this....



Only the lower sections were available, while the men's games three years before sold out all of the seats. Sure, for 20 bucks you get a fantastic view of the action that you'd never get if you were watching the Kings play. I just think the whole arena should have sold out. Heck, when the arena hosted the NCAA women's volleyball final, that sold out.
Still Arco is a basic, generic arena back when you could do well with such buildings. Now, it's all about the luxury suites, bells, whistles, sports bars and such. They're about as important to an arena as a floor. You should see the concession stands around and inside AT&T Park, or stand outside Staples Center. That proves my point.
So, Arco Arena II not only has to have more seats and luxury boxes, but a mall, too. The important thing, of course, is that it gets built, period. The unspeakable phrase, "Las Vegas Kings", isn't heard much these days. Once ground is broken next year, hopefully, it never will be heard again. However, we will hear from college basketball fans from out of town...a lot.

Now, here's some of my faves...



This was not shown on TV, because there were many signs anyway. This teaches me to think fan signs can cover the stands as much as in the WWE. Sorry, Knights of Good.



You know, those shirts should be plugging a horror movie. According to Georgia's basketball team, it was...namely them getting clobbered by Stanford



I can't recall Stanford's band playing the National Anthem anywhere. That's why I called this the "ultimate in bi-partisanship".



One of the few good action shots I got.



Knitting during a basketball game? Baseball, sure, but....Well, they were waiting for the second game, Xavier vs. Gonzaga



Maybe we should fear the Tree, but it should be in an ESPN ad



I doubt she is taking my picture

I hardly ever come to Arco because I don't usually have a reason. I just hope if we do get a new arena near the rail yards, I'll have a reason