March Madness Stats & Facts + 2023’s Best Cities for College Basketball Fans

With March Madness just a week away, the personal-finance website WalletHub today released its March Madness Stats & Facts infographic, as well as its report on 2023’s Best Cities for College Basketball Fans (with expert commentary), to help get hoops lovers psyched for this magical time of year.

To find 2023’s top spots for NCAA hoops, WalletHub crunched the numbers on more than 290 cities using nine key metrics. They range from the number of teams per city and the winning percentage of each to stadium capacity and social-media engagement.  
 

 
To read the full report and to see where your city ranks, please visit: 
http://wallethub.com/edu/best-cities-for-college-basketball/32944

March Madness Stats & Facts

• $16.3B: Corporate losses due to unproductive workers during March Madness.
   
• $1.14B: Annual revenue for the NCAA in 2022, more than double the amount earned in 2020 and toping pre-pandemic revenues ($1.12B).
   
• $10.2M: Salary for college basketball’s highest paid coach, Kansas’s Bill Self (vs. $710.7K combined for University of Kansas’s chancellor and the state’s governor).
   
• 47X: Difference between the average NBA rookie’s salary ($3.4M) and a D1 men’s athlete basketball scholarship for a year ($71.4K).

To see all the stats and the full infographic, please visit:
https://wallethub.com/blog/march-madness-statistics/11016

Please let me know if you have any questions about each report or if you would like to schedule a phone, Skype or in-studio interview with one of our sports experts. Feel free to embed this YouTube video summarizing the study on your website. You can also use or edit these raw files as you see fit. Full data sets for specific cities are also available upon request.


Best,
Diana Polk
WalletHub Communications Manager
(202) 684-6386
 

More from WalletHub

• Best & Worst Cities for Basketball Fans
• Best Sports Cities
• Best & Worst Cities for Football Fans
• Best Baseball Cities
• Best Cities for Hockey Fans
• Best Cities for Soccer Fans

 
Expert Commentary
 
What, in your mind, makes a good college basketball fan?
 
“I believe two things can make for a good college basketball fan. First, if you have allegiance to a school and its team. Then, every possession counts as you hope beyond hope for a score. Then, even when you are down in the game, you root for your team. Now, that can mean you have quite disappointing losses but with that comes ecstasy with the big wins! Along with this comes rooting against some rival, then again with each possession by that rival team, you hope for their turnover, missed shot, or blooper. With such emotion tied into the experience, the game transcends far beyond a sporting event on a hard court. Second, if you simply enjoy the game of basketball, you can enjoy college basketball. For example, I am a sports analyst. I look at the game through data, which includes consulting for the NBA. I enjoy the game via the numbers and beyond the numbers with the athleticism. For me, any game is enhanced when you consider that the athletes are generally 18-22 years old and taking classes. With all that, they prepare for a huge game and perform in the national spotlight! If you have played the game, a part of you, even if it is a very small part, is almost on the court which enhances any game.”
Tim Chartier – Professor, Davidson College; Distinguished Visiting Professor at the National Museum of Mathematics in New York City

“A good basketball fan will possess and behave based on competency, compassion, and temperance. A fan must first have a foundational base of knowledge about the game of basketball. This knowledge presents an understanding of the regulative and constitutive rules and norms of the game. Additionally, good fan presents an awareness of their existential role within the competitive environment. The fan is not a member of the athlete’s moral community; therefore, they are not peers amongst the athletes. This awareness must be grounded in compassion for the competitors. Though entertainment is the sole purpose of their attendance, the competitors participate in strenuous preparation, on and off the court, only to suffer in agony while seeking victory. Emotionally, fans may empathize, but do not have a relational correlation physically and spiritually. When such a correlation is misperceived, a good fan becomes fanatical. To avoid being a fanatic, the good fan must act with temperance. Controlling their emotional response within the experience, good support and cheers for their team while ethically participating in the competition from their stadium chair. The tempered perspective supports the people who are the athletes, enhancing one’s connection to the team and the team’s brand. The good fan can remain loyal to the team with an awareness that there is a possibility to access the competitive community ethically. Such access is not granted without competency, compassion, and temperance.”
Marcis Fennell, Ph. D. – Servant Leader/Educator/Coach, Visiting Associate Professor, Florida A&M University; Adjunct Faculty, Washington State University
 
What are the challenges, if any, of college basketball in America?
 
“Today’s college basketball is not the same ‘game’ your grandfather watched and some people do not like that. It is not immune from fans bemoaning the state of college sports, transfer portals, conference realignment, NIL, games behind paywalls, etc. College sport is undergoing a resilience test. Changes to the game have been many and rapid over the past few years. The challenge for college basketball is, as it evolves for the benefit of athletes it must also consider the needs of the fans, making sure they do not feel alienated by the process.”
Jason A. Rice, Ph.D. – Associate Professor; Sport Management Program Director, North Central College
 
“Big-time revenue-generating collegiate athletics is under assault and for good reason. There has to be a larger point to it other than a commercial one. Otherwise, it is hard to see how it is consistent with the stated goals of institutions of higher education. Plus, the entire system is an illegal restraint of trade. There is that, too.”
David Hollander, J.D. – Clinical Professor, Tisch Institute for Global Sport; Faculty Fellow in Residence, Founders Hall, New York University
 
Do you have any tips for how basketball fans can enjoy the sport without breaking the bank?
 
“For the lowest costs, stay at home. With today’s HD TVs and huge screens, you are almost there. Purchase a soundbar, which could be less than a high-end ticket and lasts far beyond one game. Want more? Invite friends or find a location that watches the game. Pack a room with diehard fans and, while maybe not a stadium, you get the energy and memorable moments of screams and groans.”
Tim Chartier – Professor, Davidson College; Distinguished Visiting Professor at the National Museum of Mathematics in New York City
 
“Attending grassroots events is fairly inexpensive. Contemporary grassroots basketball runs nearly on a year-round basis. Additionally, off-season recreational tournaments often have rosters riddled with talent from NBA and collegiate players; these leagues present environments that are everlasting to the culturally competent fan. For those that want to enjoy basketball at the college level, joining their respective program’s booster club may present discounted tickets of admission through membership. Though this option appears to be more expensive, the perks of membership to the booster club can significantly decrease expenses.”
Marcis Fennell, Ph. D. – Servant Leader/Educator/Coach, Visiting Associate Professor, Florida A&M University; Adjunct Faculty, Washington State University