The 2022 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament kicks off March 15 with a series of play-in games to narrow down the field from 68 teams to 64 which will compete in a multi-week tournament to crown a champion.
Here are some companies that could benefit from March Madness.
Paramount: Media company Paramount Global (NASDAQ:PARA)(NASDAQ:PARAA), owner of the CBS channel, will air most of the games during the tournament.
CBS will split coverage with AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) during the first- and second-round games on Thursday and Friday along with the Sweet 16 matchups.
AT&T Inc: Telecommunications company AT&T owns WarnerMedia, which in turn owns the truTV, TBS and TNT channels that will air games during the March Madness tournament. The company will have exclusive coverage of the first four games Tuesday and Wednesday nights.
Last year’s first four games had viewership up 36% from 2019 with double-digit growth. A game between UCLA and Michigan State set a first four games record with three million viewers.
AT&T could have an additional catalyst this year with TBS being the exclusive home of the 2022 NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship Game.
The 2021 NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship Game on CBS had a viewership of 16.9 million, down 14% from the 2019 title game. The game was one of the most-watched non-football sporting events since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Genius Sports: Sports betting data company Genius Sports Ltd (NYSE:GENI) is the official data provider for the NCAA and will be powering sports betting operators over the course of the tournament. Under a deal signed in 2018, no company other than Genius Sports can collect data at NCAA events for commercial exploitation.
Sports betting companies such as PointsBet are debuting new betting offerings during the tournament with an increase in live betting options.
Genius Sports also owns Second Spectrum, which will power immersive broadcast experiences for AT&T unit Turner.
Sports Betting Companies: The 2022 NCAA Tournament could generate $3 billion in legal wagering according to a report from PlayUSA.com. The tournament marks the largest sports betting holiday due to the number of games and its length. Betting handle on the tournament could triple the Super Bowl.
“The high betting volume is a function of the NCAA Tournament’s popularity coupled with 67 games played over a condensed schedule of just a few weeks,” PlayUSA analyst Eric Ramsey said. “Add in the proliferation of legalized sports betting across the U.S., and this year will easily shatter the record for the most be-on event set last year by March Madness."
Sports betting is legal in 30 states and Washington D.C. covering 163 million people to kickoff the 2022 NCAA Tournament. That compares to last year when 21 states had legal sports betting covering 116 million people.
New York, the new largest online sports betting market, will offer sports betting on the NCAA Tournament for the first time. New York, New Jersey and Nevada are expected to be the three largest markets for the tournament, bringing in $400 million in betting handle each.
FanDuel, owned by Flutter Entertainment - ADR (OTC:PDYPY), Draftkings Inc (NASDAQ:DKNG) and BetMGM, a joint venture from Entain and MGM Resorts International (NYSE:MGM) are the largest three players by market share.
Other potential winners could be Caesars Entertainment Inc (NYSE:CZR), which has a strong share in New York thanks to a big marketing push, and Penn National Gaming, Inc (NASDAQ:PENN), which will have personalities betting and watching games live.
DraftKings: Along with sports betting, DraftKings is also launching a collection of non-fungible tokens featuring top “defining moments” from college basketball. The NFTs will launch on March 16 with a collection of eight different moments planned throughout the tournament.
DraftKings is offering rewards incentives to holders of the NFTs including DK Dollars that can be used to bet on games or in daily fantasy contests. NFT prices range from $10 to $150 with each of the eight NFTs having a unit count of under 10,000.
Nike: Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE) will outfit more schools in the NCAA Tournament than any other company. The company represents 40 teams for 2022, which is down from 48 last year, but the same number from the 2019 tournament.
With 40 teams outfitted, Nike represents 58% of the tournament, which could add to television and media exposure.
It's also the outfitter of some of the highest seeds: three of the No. 1 seeds (Gonzaga, Arizona, Baylor) and three of the No. 2 seeds (Duke, Kentucky, Villanova). Gonzaga and Arizona are the heavy favorites from bettors in the tournaments to reach the final game and win the overall tournament.
Under Armour: Under Armour Inc (NYSE:UA)(NYSE:UAA) has 15 teams outfitted in the 2022 NCAA Tournament. This is up from 10 last year and close to the company’s record 17 in 2019.
Among the teams outfitted by Under Armour in the tournament are Auburn (No. 2 seed), Wisconsin (No. 3 seed) and Texas Tech (No. 3 seed). Davidson, which is a No. 10 seed, is repping the Curry brand, a spin-off of the Under Armour brand similar to the Jordan Brand for Nike.
Adidas: Adidas AG - ADR (OTC:ADDYY) is outfitting 13 teams in the 2022 NCAA Tournament. This total is up from 10 last year and 11 in 2019. Adidas will be on the jerseys of one of the four No. 1 seeds with Kansas.
