ESPN misidentifies radio announcer during special on 1966 NCAA Championship

On Wednesday night, ESPN aired footage from the famous Texas Western victory over Kentucky in the 1966 NCAA championship game. The black & white video was shot from a wider view than a conventional telecast, but it still provided a fascinating glimpse into this historic game which grew in significance over the years.

The ESPN telecast supplemented the footage with audio from the Kentucky radio broadcast. Embarrassingly, ESPN misidentified the announcer as "Walt" Sullivan both in a promotional press release and in an on-screen graphic.

The voice was actually that of longtime Kentucky radio announcer Claude Sullivan. Many other sites propagated this ESPN error without performing any fact checking. (Note: Sometime after the airing, ESPN updated its press release to reflect the correct name of the announcer.)

Sullivan never mentioned race during his game commentary. On multiple occasions, Sullivan misidentified (or failed to identify) Texas Western players, especially early in the game. He seemed to focus more on what he viewed as the "poor" play of the Wildcats rather than praise the Miners. The game action was interesting as there were several travelling violations called (which Sullivan referred to as "walking"). It also provided a reminder that this era featured the one-shot non-shooting foul.

The footage appeared to be from a coaching film. It certainly wasn't from the original telecast as it contained no graphics. ESPN added some supplemental graphics to periodically display the score. Of course, ESPN had previously stated that it was re-airing the original telecast only to later back down from that claim.

ESPN2 will re-air this special on Sunday 4/3 at 11am ET. I assume the ESPN production crew will edit the above graphic by then.

The first NBC prime time NCAA basketball title game

In 1973, NBC televised the NCAA championship game on Monday night after airing it on Saturday afternoon the previous four years. The success of Monday Night Football on ABC prompted NBC to move the basketball title game to prime time where it has remained ever since. That 3/26/1973 contest featured Bill Walton scoring 44 points and hitting 21 of 22 shots as UCLA defeated Memphis State to win its 7th consecutive championship. The telecast started at 9 pm ET with Curt Gowdy and Tom Hawkins calling the game for NBC.
 
 

TV coverage history of the NCAA Tournament (1969-present)

Last year, I compiled a 3-part historical summary of the TV coverage of the NCAA tournament from 1969 to the present. I recently made some updates and this week is an appropriate time to post the revised version.

• Part 1 covers 1969-1981 when NBC held the network rights and both TVS and NCAA Productions also televised games. This era saw the initial ESPN involvement in the tournament and spans from Curt Gowdy to the legendary team of Dick Enberg, Billy Packer, and Al McGuire.
• Part 2 covers 1982-1990 when CBS took over the network contract, hired Packer, expanded its coverage, and moved to later start times. The era kicked off with Gary Bender as the lead voice and finished with Brent Musburger.
• Part 3 covers the modern era of 1991-present starting when CBS took over the entire tournament. Jim Nantz has been the voice of the Final Four throughout this period which takes things up to the current CBS partnership with Turner Sports providing coverage of all games across four channels.

Chronology of NCAA Tournament TV coverage (1991-present)

This is the third part of a series. The first installment covered 1969-1981 while the second one covered 1982-1990. All times are ET except where noted.

<EDITED on 3/15/2017 to bring this up to date as of the 2017 tournament>  

In 1991, CBS took over the entire NCAA tournament. For the opening Thursday and Friday, CBS provided regional coverage with somewhat staggered starts in two afternoon windows starting at noon and two prime time windows. For sites in the Mountain or Pacific time zone, the first game aligned with the second afternoon window while the second game started around 5 pm and was outside of the CBS regional windows. CBS carried the 5 pm game but only in limited markets. The Mountain/Pacific sites lined up with  the same two prime time windows as the other sites. This meant there was a much shorter break between sessions at those arenas. For the prime time coverage, CBS came on the air at 7:30 pm only in those markets which got a 7:30 pm game. In most of the country, CBS came on the air at 8 pm and carried a game starting at that time. The same was true for the regional semis coverage.

For the rest of the opening weekend, CBS continued to show a Saturday quadrupleheader starting with a national game at noon. On Sunday, CBS carried a regional tripleheader staring with two games at noon. In  previous years CBS had featured a national game at noon on that Sunday. This was also the first year that the early Saturday regional final started at 3:30 pm. Also, in 1991 CBS installed Jim Nantz as the lead play-by-play announcer and he worked the Final Four with Billy Packer.

In 1995, CBS expanded the Selection Show to one hour and started it at 6 pm. CBS also started its prime time coverage at 7:30 pm in all markets for the opening Thursday and Friday and for the regional semis. This was also the first year that the early Sunday regional final started at 2:30 pm.

1996 was the last year that CBS ran two regional games in the noon window on the opening Sunday. Staring in 1997, CBS would feature a national game in this timeslot.

1998 was the first year that first round games at Mountain time zone sites aligned with the CBS afternoon windows meaning these sessions started around 10:30 am local time. The 5 pm games were limited to Pacific time zone sites.

1999 was the first year of the DirecTV Mega March Madness package which enabled viewers to see all out-of-market regional games during the first three rounds of the tournament.

In 2000, CBS moved the start of the opening Saturday to 1 pm. This was also the first year that the early Saturday regional final started at 4:30 pm.

In 2001, the NCAA expanded the tournament to 65 teams. This added a play-in game on the opening Tuesday night which was televised by TNN.

In 2002, the Tuesday play-in game moved to ESPN. CBS moved the Final Four to its current 6 pm slot.

In 2003, CBS provided Iraq war coverage on the opening Thursday and Friday afternoons. ESPN picked up the CBS feeds and provided regional coverage in the afternoon windows. CBS handled the prime time windows both days. This was also the first year that the CBS prime time coverage started at 7 pm for the opening Thursday and Friday and for the regional semis.

In 2007, CSTV provided national coverage of the CBS feed for one of the CBS regional games each day on the opening Thursday and Friday. In areas which received this game regionally on CBS, the game was on both networks. The CSTV game on Thursday was the 5 pm Pacific time zone game. This pattern continued through 2009 by which point CSTV had been renamed to CBS College Sports.

In 2008, CBS moved the first Saturday regional final to 6:30 pm. But in 2009 this game was back in its typical 4:30 pm slot. Also, in 2009, Clark Kellogg became the #1 CBS analyst replacing the retired Packer.

2011 featured a major change to the tournament TV coverage as all games were nationally televised across four networks. The tournament expanded to 68 teams and the play-in round was branded as the First Four. The tournament kicked off with doubleheaders on Tuesday and Wednesday night on truTV starting at 6:30 pm. CBS, TBS, TNT, and truTV handled the first weekend with four games on each network on Thursday and Friday. CBS televised a quadrupleheader on Saturday and a tripleheader on Sunday. CBS started both days at noon with a standalone doubleheader. TBS and TNT had doubleheaders each day and truTV picked up the other Sunday game. Both Saturday and Sunday ended with a game starting at 9:30 pm, so these days featured basketball from noon to almost midnight. CBS and TBS aired the regional semis while CBS handled the rest of the tournament. For the Final Four, CBS added Steve Kerr to call the action along with Nantz and Kellogg.

The 2012 and 2013 tournaments followed the same pattern as in 2011.

In 2014, the Saturday regional finals moved to TBS with the first game shifting to 6 pm. And in a very significant change, TBS covered the national semifinals. For the Final Four games, CBS/Turner provided a three-network "Teamcast". This feature supplemented the main feed with separate telecasts geared to fans of the participating teams on TNT and truTV. Greg Anthony replaced Kellogg on the #1 broadcast team and called the Final Four with Nantz and Kerr.

For the 2015 tournament, Bill Raftery and Grant Hill joined Nantz on the top announcer crew.

In 2016, CBS expanded the Selection Show to 2 hours. TBS took over the Sunday regional finals with the first game at 6 pm. The Saturday regional finals moved back to CBS. The championship game was on TBS for the first time and is supplemented by the Teamcast concept.

For 2017, CBS reduced the Selection Show to 1.5 hours. TBS gets the Saturday regional finals while the Sunday regional finals return to the traditional afternoon slot on CBS. The Final Four and championship game are back on CBS with no Teamcast.

Chronology of NCAA Tournament TV coverage (1982-1990)

CBS took over the network rights to the NCAA Tournament in 1982 and expanded its coverage over what NBC had done. Here is a summary of my research on NCAA tournament TV coverage for this time period: (all times are ET)

Note: The above link takes you to a section of 506sports which contains detailed TV schedules and announcers for these tournaments (free registration required to view).

UPDATE: This is the second of a three-part series. The first installment covers 1969-1981 while the third one covers 1991-present.

1982-1984

CBS introduced a half hour show on 3/7 at 5:30 pm to announce the 1982 tournament bracket on what is now known as Selection Sunday. CBS added coverage of the opening round with live late night games from the West Region on Thursday and Friday at 11:30 pm. On the opening weekend, CBS televised a tripleheader on Saturday beginning with a national telecast at noon and a regional doubleheader on Sunday. CBS actually televised an NBA game at noon on Sunday before its NCAA coverage, but would never cover an NBA game on an NCAA Tournament day again. For the regional semifinals, CBS carried a live 11:30 pm game from the West Region on Thursday and a tape delay game in the same timeslot on Friday. CBS also moved the first Final Four Saturday game to 3:30 pm. When NBC had the rights, the first Final Four game often started at 1 or 2 pm. The #1 CBS announcer team was Gary Bender and Billy Packer.

NCAA Productions televised all tournament games not picked up by CBS. ESPN continued to pick up many of these feeds and carried live doubleheaders on the opening Thursday and Friday nights. ESPN also ran many games on tape delay after the CBS 11:30 telecast both nights. For the regional semis, ESPN carried a prime time doubleheader each night along with a tape delay game after the CBS late night window.

In 1983, the tournament added four play-in games on the opening Tuesday. ESPN carried a live prime time doubleheader that night and showed the other two games on tape delay. Otherwise, the tournament coverage was similar to 1982.

In 1984, CBS expanded the opening weekend to a Sunday tripleheader which begin with a national telecast at noon. The rest of the CBS coverage was the same as the previous two years. This year there were five play-in games on the opening Tuesday. ESPN showed three of these live and the other two on tape delay. In the late night window on the Friday night of the 1984 regional semis, CBS provided regional coverage between a live game and another on tape delay. Otherwise, all of the CBS late night games of this era were national telecasts.

1985-1987

In 1985, the tournament expanded to 64 teams which eliminated the Tuesday play-in round. ESPN expanded its opening round coverage to carry five live games starting at noon on Thursday leading up to the 11:30 pm game on CBS. Then ESPN ran other games on tape delay overnight and the next morning. ESPN did the same thing on Friday. This resulted in almost non-stop basketball for 55 consecutive hours from Thursday noon through early Saturday evening. During its coverage, ESPN would also provide live cut-ins on other NCAA Productions games often providing the finish of a close game. However, the NCAA placed limits on how much live action ESPN could show from games other than the one it had selected as its primary telecast in that timeslot.

CBS also expanded the regional semifinals to a doubleheader each night in 1985. On Thursday CBS provided regional coverage of two games at 9 pm and carried a tape delay game at 11:30 pm. On Friday CBS aired a game at 10 pm and a tape delay game at 12:30 am. This left ESPN with only one live game each night. CBS also set the game times for the regional finals as 1:30 pm and 4 pm on both Saturday and Sunday, a pattern that would remain intact through 1990. Brent Musburger took over in 1985 as the CBS lead play-by-play voice and called the Final Four with Packer.

The 1986 and 1987 coverage was essentially the same as 1985. One interesting note from 1987 is that CBS televised a live game in the Friday night regional semifinal 12:30 am window. This marks the latest start time ever for a live NCAA Tournament telecast. Also, 1987 was the last year that CBS televised a tournament game on tape delay. During this era, when CBS aired a game on tape delay, in some cases a CBS affiliate in the local market of one of the schools would televise the game live.

1988-1990

In 1988, CBS took over the entire regional semifinals round showing doubleheaders both nights with two games regionalized in each window with tip times staggered by about 25 minutes. On these nights, CBS would only come on the air at 7:30 pm for tournament coverage in those markets which aired the 7:30 pm game in the early regional window. In all other markets the CBS prime time tournament coverage didn't start until 8 pm. CBS also moved the opening Final Four Saturday game to 5:30 pm. The 1989 coverage was similar to 1988.

In 1990, CBS expanded the opening Saturday to a quadrupleheader. Otherwise, the coverage was similar to the previous two years. This was the last year of the 11:30 pm CBS games from the opening round. It was also the final year of the ESPN/NCAA Productions involvement as CBS would take over the entire tournament the following season.

Chronology of NCAA Tournament TV coverage (1969-1981)

The TV coverage of the early years of the NCAA Tournament was a far cry from the live national coverage of every game that we have today. Here is a summary of my research on NCAA tournament TV coverage for this time period:

Note: The above link takes you to a section of 506sports which contains detailed TV schedules and announcers for these tournaments (free registration required to view).

UPDATE: This is the first of a three-part series. The second installment covers 1982-1990 while the third one covers 1991-present.

1969-1972

NBC started covering the NCAA Tournament in 1969. On the opening day of that tournament (Saturday 3/8) NBC televised a doubleheader. On Saturday 3/15, NBC provided a regional doubleheader of the regional finals with each market getting just two of the four regional final games. The Final Four was on Thursday night 3/20, but each market only got one of the two national semifinals. NBC showed the early game in the eastern half of the USA and the late game in the western half. On Saturday afternoon 3/22, NBC televised the consolation game followed by the championship game.

At the time, the NCAA placed teams into the tournament bracket based on geography so, for example, the West Regional only contained western schools. Also, the Final Four pairings were always locked in as East vs Mideast and Midwest vs West. These factors facilitated NBC in regionalizing its TV coverage essentially by geography and time zone no matter what schools were involved.

NBC used the same scheduling pattern through 1972. Therefore, during these years, each market received only seven games of the entire tournament on NBC (and one of those was the meaningless consolation game). This also meant that many areas of the country never got a chance to see UCLA until the championship game.

Interestingly, in each of these years, CBS televised the NIT championship game head-to-head against the NCAA consolation game on NBC.

Curt Gowdy and Jim Simpson called the Final Four for NBC in 1969 and 1970. Gowdy and Tom Hawkins formed the #1 team starting in 1971.

1973-1976

In 1973, the NCAA moved the Final Four to a Saturday/Monday format. For the first time, NBC televised both national semifinals nationally on Saturday afternoon. NBC aired the championship game in prime time on Monday night and stopped covering the consolation game. For the rest of the tournament, NBC used the same TV schedule pattern as for 1969-1972. The 1974 TV coverage was the same as in 1973.

In 1975, NBC expanded its opening Saturday coverage to a tripleheader. NBC also expanded its regional finals coverage to a tripleheader (with one timeslot featuring regional coverage of two games). So each market got to see three of the four regional finals. Also, in 1975, Billy Packer replaced Hawkins as the lead analyst and called the Final Four with Gowdy.

The 1976 TV coverage was the same as in 1975. From an announcer standpoint, NBC used Dick Enberg and Gowdy essentially as co-#1 play-by-play announcers. Each called one national semi with Packer. For the championship game, NBC put Gowdy and Enberg together (with Curt handling play-by-play) and relegated Packer to the studio.

During the early NBC years, the TVS television network syndicated many NCAA tournament games which NBC did not cover.

1977-1981

In 1977, NBC added Sunday coverage to the opening weekend and went with doubleheaders on both Saturday and Sunday. In a unique change of pace, on Thursday night 3/17, NBC also provided prime time regional coverage of four regional semifinal games with each market getting one game. This was the only year that NBC provided any coverage of this round. NCAA Productions syndicated the other four regional semifinals plus all other tournament games (including the Final Four consolation game) which NBC did not carry. NBC handled the announcer situation for the Final Four similarly to 1976, but this time added Packer to the championship game booth with Gowdy and Enberg.

In 1978, NBC continued to show Saturday and Sunday doubleheaders on the opening weekend, but covered three games regionally in each timeslot. Prior to this season, NBC would either show a national game or just two regional games in each opening weekend timeslot. Also, the NCAA scheduled two of the regional finals on Sunday so, for the first time, NBC televised all four regional finals nationally. NBC dropped the Thursday night regional semifinals coverage, but otherwise used the same schedule pattern as in 1977 for the remainder of the tournament. NCAA Productions carried the entire regional semifinals round and continued to televise all tournament games not picked up by NBC. In 1978, Gowdy called one national semi, but this time NBC assigned Enberg the lead play-by-play role for the championship game. Enberg called that contest with Packer and Al McGuire. That trio called all the Final Four games through 1981.

The NBC schedule for 1979-1981 was essentially the same as in 1978 except that NBC included all 16 games on the opening weekend as part of its regional coverage.

In 1980, six-month old ESPN picked up the NCAA Productions feeds of two games on the opening Thursday night and three on the opening Friday night of the tournament. ESPN also picked up these feeds for the regional semifinals the following Thu/Fri carrying five games live and the other three on tape delay.

In 1981, ESPN aired the NCAA Productions telecasts of all 16 Thu/Fri first round games (four live and the remainder on tape delay). ESPN provided the same regional semis coverage as in 1980.

ESPN also carried the NCAA Productions feed for the Final Four consolation game in both 1980 and 1981.