loading...
By Pieter Uni
March is a tremendous month to be a sport fanatic, but not a business owner.
It is a month that sees professional hockey and basketball enter the climax of their respective regular seasons and this year we have the Paralympics and of course the beginning of baseball and Canada’s awkward version of football.
It also features March Madness, the single-elimination NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament that starts Thursday and concludes with the championship game April 3.
But not everyone is happy.
While sports fans continue to work on their personalized groove in the sofa and mix carbonated beverages with greasy potato substitutes to create an aroma sure to remove any layer of paint, U.S. companies and the suits that run them are seeing red.
According to Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc., a global outplacement company in Chicago, Illinois, that annually predicts the NCAA basketball tournament’s impact, the first week of the tournament — when the most games are played during daytime hours — could cost U.S. employers as much as $1.8 billion.
This blow to business is based on surveys revealing that 45 per cent of Americans enter office pools and waste on average about 20 minutes a day focusing on basketball instead of their job. Challenger, Gray & Christmas says that translates to more than 58 million employees.
If all that business is lost in the month that brings spring, daylight saving time and allergies, does that mean April is the month that brings showers, flowers and… overtime?
Lost and found
Historically, MVPs in the NCAA Tournament have gone on to glory in the NBA, with the likes Magic Johnson, Glen Rice and most recently Carmelo Anthony winning the prestigious award.
But as dedicated hoops fans know, one former UCLA standout didn’t fit the mould. After winning the award following the Bruins 1995 championship winning season, Ed O’Bannon made his way from the cozy confines of California to New Jersey as the Nets ninth overall pick in the ‘95 NBA Draft. Two years later, the power forward, who recorded 30 points and 17 rebounds in the final against Arkansas, was selling cars in Las Vegas.
Don’t worry, he bounced back. He’s now a high school basketball coach.
What’s your lucky number?
March Madness lends itself to office betting pools, with an easy to understand knockout system that allows even the one person in the office who picks by mascot name a chance to pick a perfect bracket.
Good luck.
The odds of selecting a perfect bracket is nine quintillion to one.
Tags: March Madness
