With the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, better known as March Madness, about to get underway these things are pretty much certain…
First, these teams are the early favorites and will likely be THE favorites to reach the Final Four:
In addition, the items in this list will also likely be true…
- No one will submit a perfect bracket! The odds of doing so are 1 in 9.2 quintillion. Compare this to the odds of winning the Mega Millions lottery jackpot which is a paltry 1 in 258,890,850. March Madness, however, is much more fun!
- Business productivity will take a severe hit during March Madness! According to the analysis of Challenger, Gray & Christmas in 2014, ‘With an estimated 50 million Americans participating in March Madness office pools, companies stand to lose at least $1.2 billion for every unproductive work hour during the first week of the tournament…’
- Houston, home of the Final Four, stands to get a huge economic boost! The projection is that the economic impact will be in the range of $300 million.
- Advertisers will be paying up during the Final Four! A 30-second spot will cost in the neighborhood of a cool $1.5 million.
- A #16 seed will not beat a #1 seed in the first round! Over a sample size of 124 games it has not happened and if form holds it will not happen this year either.
- Warren Buffet will offer a $1 million yearly prize for life to one of his employees! Unfortunately to win the prize the employee must correctly pick the winner of all 48 games in the first two rounds of the tournament. Why can Buffet make this offer? From CheatSheet.com, ‘of the 48 million brackets submitted to ESPN’s Tournament Challenge over the past six years, only one managed to get even the first round of 32 picks right.’
Good luck to all!
Michael Haltman is President of Hallmark Abstract Service in New York. He can be reached at mhaltman@hallmarkabstractllc.com.
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