NCAA Gets $1 Billion for Tournament : TV: Seven-year contract with CBS cuts cable out of basketball tournament coverage as network continues spending spree.

CBS bought exclusive rights to the NCAA men’s basketball tournament Tuesday, agreeing to a $1-billion, seven-year contract that would provide over-the-air coverage of every tournament game, thus eliminating cable television’s involvement in the NCAA’s biggest event.

Neal Pilson, CBS Sports president, said the network will televise 60 to 70 hours of basketball during the 64-team tournament. CBS’ current $166-million, three-year NCAA tournament contract expires after the 1990 Final Four.

“We feel it’s a good gamble with the growth of the tournament and the tremendous amount of attention it gets,” Pilson said. “More people watch the college basketball tournament than the Super Bowl and even the World Series. We have ourselves a secure, attractive, event.

“We anticipate making money on this, but we normally don’t say how much.”

The new contract was the fourth major deal involving CBS in the last year.

Last December, the network signed a four-year, $1-billion deal with major league baseball. CBS then spent $643 million for the 1992 and 1994 Winter Olympics. Earlier this month, NBC signed a four-year, $600-million contract with the NBA, beginning with the 1990-91 season, ending CBS’ 17-year association with pro basketball.

Pilson said that it would have been difficult to offer $1 billion for the NCAA tournament if CBS had renewed its NBA contract.

“It’s a lot of money, especially when you have to write it out like I did on the baseball contract,” Pilson said. “You have to count the zeroes to make sure you haven’t made a mistake.

“But those numbers reflect the appetite of the viewers, an appetite we measure every 15 minutes through the ratings. One billion dollars is a benchmark, that’s to be sure, but we would never pay it if we didn’t think it was worth it.”

Also included in the deal are the rights to many NCAA minor sports championships, including track, gymnastics and volleyball, as well as expanded coverage of the women’s basketball tournament.

CBS also bid on four-year, six-year and a split-network contracts, but Pilson said the network’s “sole intent” was to renew the contract exclusively. CBS, which has been televising NCAA games since 1981, outbid network rivals ABC and NBC.

“I had envisioned our principal competition coming from ABC,” he said. “ABC gave a strong presentation for the single-event telecast, while NBC gave a strong presentation for the split-network telecast.”

Pilson said some games will be televised nationally, but most early-round games will be shown regionally. Local affiliates will decide which games are shown regionally, he said.

ESPN had televised many of the early-round games for the last several years. Pilson estimated that CBS will reach twice as many households as ESPN did with its daytime telecasts, and four times as many viewers as the cable network did at night.

“It’s a great event and we’re going to miss it,” ESPN spokesman Mike Soltys said. “We wish CBS well with it.”

Dick Schultz, the NCAA’s executive director, said the NCAA is trying to find creative ways to distribute the television money among the member schools.

“We all have heard about the $400,000 free throw and all the pressure that is put on coaches and players,” Schultz said. “We are going to work with the membership to find ways to alleviate the pressure.”

Schultz said beer commercials would be reduced by 33% on tournament telecasts.

“We believe we have entered a whole new era in television sports,” Schultz said.