March Madness reduces worker output by $4 billion

March 18, 2019 at 11:38 p.m. | Updated March 18, 2019 at 11:38 p.m.

by Staff Report

FILE - In this March 14, 2012, file photo, a player runs across the NCAA logo during practice in Pittsburgh before an NCAA tournament college basketball game. The spate of arrests, the details of under-the-table bribes to teenagers and the expected downfall of one of the sport’s best-known coaches has triggered uncomfortable soul searching among universities that run the nation’s most prominent college basketball programs. At stake is the future of a business that, over the span of 22 years ending in 2032, will produce $19.6 billion in TV money for the NCAA Tournament, known to the public, simply, as March Madness. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic, File)
FILE - In this March 14, 2012, file photo, a player runs across the NCAA logo during practice in Pittsburgh before an NCAA tournament college basketball game. The spate of arrests, the details of under-the-table bribes to teenagers and the expected downfall of one of the sport’s best-known coaches has triggered uncomfortable soul searching among universities that run the nation’s most prominent college basketball programs. At stake is the future of a business that, over the span of 22 years ending in 2032, will produce $19.6 billion in TV money for the NCAA Tournament, known to the public, simply, as March Madness. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic, File)

The 68-team NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament that kicks off with the first playoff games Tuesday night is costly in more ways than one. The online personal finance website Wallethub estimates the costs of the Big Dance:

* $4.8 billion - Corporate losses due to unproductive workers during March Madness

* 6 hours - The amount of time spent by the average worker watching games during the tournament

* 56 percent - The share of millennials who say they are willing to miss a work deadline to watch a game

* $142 million - The projected economic impact from the Final Four tournament in Minneapolis

* $8.98 million - The salary for the coach of top-ranked Duke, Mike Kryzewski, or more than six times the combined salary paid to the president of Duke and the North Carolina governor.

Source: Wallethub

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