The CAA is Persona Non Grata at ESPN's Bracket Busters Because the League Signed a TV Deal with NBC Sports
By Jason McIntyre
But now that the CAA has inked a deal to have its games televised by the NBC Sports Network … ESPN won’t be inviting them to the Bracket Busters party. That stinks for ESPN, considering Drexel, VCU and George Mason have, in recent years, been key teams in the event. But it is bad news for the CAA, too:
"“We are disappointed but we understand the business,’’ Yeager said. He said that the benefits of signing with NBC outweighed the risks of losing a spot in BracketBusters."
In college basketball, it’s becoming increasingly difficult for mid-majors to get high majors to play them in a home-and-home situation. Who is playing Butler or VCU or Creighton on the road? Nobody. In a neutral preseason tourney, sure, but a key win in November/December doesn’t carry the weight as a nice win in February.
Long-term, the move to NBC is a good one. The added exposure will obviously help with recruiting. In the short term, finding quality non-conference wins in February may be hard to come by.