Selection Sunday is March 12, when the field for the 2017 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament will be announced. The Final Four is slated for University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Ariz., from April 1-3. For college hoops fans, there is no better time to be alive than right now.
Which is why we’ve consulted various sources to compile a list — one that is bound to get longer over the next few weeks — of fun March Madness numbers. Here we go:
$300 million: The Final Four’s projected economic impact on 2016 host city Houston
$8.4 million: Final Four cost subsidies paid by the State of Texas in 2016
$66 million: The economic impact on First Four city Dayton, Ohio, since 2001
$9.2 billion: The amount wagered on the 2016 tournament, an increase of $200 million over the previous year
$803: Average resale value on SeatGeek for a full strip of tickets to the three 2016 Final Four games
$1.9 billion: Hourly losses by companies due to unproductive workers during the tournament
81 percent: That’s how many human resources professionals says their organizations don’t have policies addressing office pools
17.5 million: Barrels of American beer produced each March, compared to an average of 14 million in all other months
19%: Increase in pizza orders by fans after losses vs. wins
9%: Increase in dessert orders after losses vs. wins
1 in 9.2 quintillion: Odds of filling out a perfect bracket (Statistically, you have a better chance of being crushed to death by a vending machine)
25: Number of games Cole Parzych picked correctly before his perfect bracket was busted in the 2016 NCAA March Madness Capital One Bracket Challenge
750%: Increase in sales of Syracuse merchandise by Fanatics, the official fan merchandiser of the NCAA, after the Orange made it to the 2016 Final Four
$10.8 billion: Amount paid by CBS/Turner Broadcasting to acquire the 2011-2024 TV rights for the men’s tournament
$38.3 million: Estimated value of the University of Louisville men’s basketball program, highest among all schools
$100 million: March Madness profits for Las Vegas casinos
Let the games begin.
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