2024 NCAA Basketball Deals, Special Programming Offered By Max

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor The outsized audience for this week’s highly-watched women’s NCAA basketball match between Iowa and LSU may also have noticed that many of the commercials seen during the game belonged to AT&T, State Farm, Home Depot and Gatorade. There was good reason. Optimum Sports, a media agency that specializes in sports properties and is part of ad giant Omnicom Group, had quietly snatched up 35% of advertising time during the game, a record setter in terms of viewership for women’s sports and the latest example of how interest in female players and the leagues in which they play is booming.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Does the sports world have room for April Action after weeks of March Madness? Fox aims to answer the question in 2025 when it launched a new post-season college-basketball tournament in tandem with large sports and music promote AEG Worldwide. The College Basketball Crown will rely on 16 teams drawn largely from the Big Ten, Big 12 and Big East conferences, with the possibility of other participants.

Once again, the Iowa Hawkeyes are leading ESPN to record audiences for women’s basketball.

Cynthia Littleton Business Editor No matter who prevails next Sunday at the NCAA’s championship game, 2024’s March Madness will go down in history as a milestone moment for women’s sports. Not just in the college basketball realm — but for female athletes overall. In a perfect storm, the annual bracket-bonkers frenzy around the NCAA college basketball tournament has conferred a level of respect to the women’s game that is rarely been seen across sports media, but for the quadrennial exception of the Women’s World Cup.

UPDATED with statement: Los Angeles Times columnist Ben Bolch, who came under widespread fire for a column about the LSU–UCLA Women’s NCAA tournament matchup in which he called the Lady Tigers “dirty debutantes” and called them “villains,” while calling the Bruins “milk and cookies,” has apologized.

ESPN’s list of top 25 players to watch in the NCAA Women’s Tournament are two outstanding Latinas that are aiding in the successful post seasons during 2024 March Madness.With Caitlin Clark (Iowa) and Paige “Buckets” Bueckers (UCONN) and topping the charts on the #1 and #2 players to watch in the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament, the list hosts two Latinas as well, freshman Hannah Hidalgo (Notre Dame) and senior Kamilla Cardoso (South Carolina). Bueckers has suffered multiple injuries throughout her college career, but as Dawn Staley recently said, “Paige is great.

March Madness tournament continues this week. As we enter the second round of the tournament, we continue to see universities battle it out in order to get to the Sweet 16.

Wait… did Kylie Jenner break up with Timothée Chalamet — and move on with a college basketball star?!

Kim Kardashian is stepping out to cheer on her son Saint!

Remember that Tristan Thompson has a 2-year-old son named Theo with ex-fling Maralee Nichols??

Ben Affleck is back at work!

Marc Malkin Senior Editor, Culture and Events Former ID-PR brands boss Michael Smith has launched a new communications firm, Midnight Dawn. Smith departed ID-PR in January. “Midnight Dawn has been 25 years in the making and I’m honored to have the privilege of representing a world class group of talent and brands,” Smith said in an exclusive statement to Variety on Tuesday.

The brackets for the NCAA men’s basketball tournament — aka “March Madness” — were revealed today, bringing joy and tears in equal amounts to teams selected and shunned.

's is an absolute fantasy, and that her styling choices are just as unique…So much so that she shows up at a basketball game wearing the exact opposite of what we would expect.If the front row at an NBA game calls for sneakers——Lopez gives us glitz and excess in the form of wedge party books she easily could have worn to any of her concerts. She combined the shoes, of course, with the basic garments that would have gone just as well as with a pair of kicks.

Shakira is looking back at her relationship with Gerard Pique.

Variety Staff Follow Us on Twitter If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Variety may receive an affiliate commission. March Madness kicks off this weekend with Selection Sunday, during which the 68-team bracket will finally be announced ahead of the highly anticipated NCAA tournament. The First Four games begin on Tuesday, March 19 in Dayton, Ohio , with games scheduled until the Final Four take place on Apr.

Elsbeth is airing again tonight (March 14) on CBS, but fans will be seeing a repeat of the pilot instead of getting episode two.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Warner Bros. Discovery is hoping to convert college hoops excitement into a bumper crop of new Max subscribers this spring. The media company, ahead of the upcoming 2024 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship, is offering U.S.

Khloe Kardashian is celebrating Tristan Thompson‘s birthday with some sweet photos.

Jaden Thompson Mindy Kaling‘s upcoming Netflix comedy series centered on pro-basketball has added Max Greenfield, Uche Agada and Dane DiLiegro to the cast. Kaling’s latest project, still untitled, features Kate Hudson in the lead role.