CBS Sports is reporting solid numbers for the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. According to the CBS Sports PR department, the Sweet 16 games “averaged 10.3 million viewers across CBS, TBS, and truTV,” which is a 5% increase over last year’s viewership.

Thursday’s games with coach Hubert Davis and North Carolina facing Alabama scored a win with 11.1 million viewers, up over 10% from 2023.

On Friday, Kelvin Sampson’s Houston team versus Duke and Tennessee vs. Creighton had 10.6 million viewers. Those numbers were 15% more than last season in the late window of games on Friday.

What should be encouraging is that the tournament’s overall viewership is averaging 9.3 million viewers across CBS, TBS, truTV, and TNT.

WHAT NCAA FINAL FOUR COACHES EARN

According to Front Office Sports, Keatts earns $3.1 million annually, the least among the Final Four head coaches. Nate Oats (Alabama) earns $6.275M, reigning national champion coach Dan Hurley (UConn) is paid $5.35M, and Purdue’s Matt Painter makes $3.68M.  The underdogs Keatts and Painter may receive hefty bonuses for reaching the Final Four and Championship games.