March Madness 2014

With selection Sunday just 3 days away and the round of 64 only a week out, I thought it'd be a good time to take a look at the NCAA March Madness tournament.
March Madness is the annual tournament to crown the NCAA Basketball National Champion. The tournament is a huge deal for most sports fans, especially the gambling type.  The tournament drives people from all across the country to Sin City in hopes of making some extra coin watching college hoops. Though Vegas sees a substantial increase in visitors during the tournament, I want to talk about TV ad revenue.
The March Madness tournament generated over $1 billion dollars last year alone! That's more money than NFL generated that amount over the entire football postseason,or more than the postseason ad revenue for the MLB, NBA, and NHL combined.
I was shocked when I saw just how much money the NCAA brings in through the tournament. I fill out a bracket or two every year with various work groups and friends, but over a billion dollars sounds insane.

Ticket info for Regionals at the Honda Center

2014 Boston Marathon

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This year’s Boston Marathon will take place on April 21st under much tighter security. After last year's twin bombings and subsequent search throughout the city that resulted in the death of 4 and injuries to 264 others, the number of security assigned to the marathon will be doubled to an astonishing 3,500 in 2014. The additional security forces should be able to deter any other attacks on the event.
Last year’s marathon was a tragedy, and it will not shortly be forgotten, but that really doesn't justify doubling the security this year to 3,500 people. Last year’s event was an isolated incident, and the suspects were determined to have acted alone. There is no reason to suspect that anything similar will take place this year, especially after last year. If anything, the likelihood of a bombing should be considerably lower this year due to last year’s bombing. I am all for people to get together and have a good time exercising and rooting on the competitors in a safe matter, but spending thousands of unnecessary dollars is still spending thousands of unnecessary dollars.

 

 

Boston PD Salaries