Credit: WANE
By Manny Soloway on

Local TV stations have been forced to resort to unique ways to showcase March Madness highlights due to the NCAA’s strict highlight rules.

Josh Ayen, a reporter at WANE in Fort Wayne, Indiana, recreated Purdue basketball highlights using footage of himself shooting.

Ayen made sure to inform viewers that “no TV equipment was harmed in the making of this game recap.”

In his highlights, Ayen used a mini-basketball set to recreate shots. He used paper and tape to add player numbers to himself.

This is not the first time a local TV station has showed alternative highlights. In 2014, an ABC station in Gainsville, Florida, acted out highlights due to similar TV restrictions.

Like the restrictions on teams’ social media accounts, the NCAA has strict requirements for the amount of highlights local stations can show. Highlights are restricted to three minutes a day and can only be shown after all games end.

Similar to the social media rules, these restrictions made much more sense when the only way to watch March Madness was on television. Now, it’s incredibly easy to watch highlights while games are ongoing. They are even posted on the official March Madness social media pages.

Restrictions like these serve to hurt local television stations. As much as these alternative highlights are fun and unique, people would much rather watch the actual thing. Why would someone tune into their local news station’s sports report if it doesn’t have highlights?

The NCAA is under no obligation to prop up local television stations if they are losing viewers. But this is another example of the NCAA’s restrictions being stuck in the past.

About Manny Soloway

Manny Soloway is a Iowa based writer focusing on TV ratings. He is also the founder of the TV Media Blog substack.

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