NCAA Tournament: CBS Gives Final Four Games to TBS in 2014 & 2015, and in 2016, TBS Will Get the Title Game

Turner Sports just sent out a press release that will send mild shockwaves throughout college basketball:

"CBS Sports and Turner Sports have announced the programming schedule for their exclusive joint television coverage of the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship in 2014 and 2015. In each of the two years, TBS will televise the NCAA Final Four national semifinals and CBS will broadcast the NCAA National Championship game. Additionally, beginning in 2014 through 2024, coverage of the Regional Semifinals and Regional Finals games will be split by TBS and CBS. Earlier round coverage of the tournament will continue to be televised across four national television networks – CBS, TBS, TNT and truTV with the First Four® airing exclusively on truTV. In 2010, Turner Sports and CBS Sports entered into a 14-year exclusive media rights partnership with the NCAA to present the Division I Men’s Basketball Championship from 2011-2024. As part of that agreement, CBS Sports and Turner Sports will alternate coverage of the Final Four national semi-final games and National Championship game between TBS and CBS. The rotation begins on TBS with the network televising the Final Four and National Championship in 2016 with CBS broadcasting the games in 2017."

Best tweet I received about this so far: So college basketball is turning into the NHL?

This is a sad day for longtime college basketball fans. Let me guess, you wish ESPN would have landed the NCAA tournament a couple years ago during the bidding process, right? Wrap your mind around this one – in 2016, the Final Four and NCAA basketball title game will be on cable. That’ll be the case in 2018, 2020, 2022, and 2024. [via Turner Sports Press Release]