Mar 20, 2008 4:20 am US/Pacific
Tourney Expected to Cost Employers $1.7 Billion
ANAHEIM, Calif. (CBS) ―
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The NCAA men's basketball tournament begins Thursday with four Southern California schools in action and nearly 11 hours of television coverage, threatening workplace productivity.
The tournament could cost employers as much as $1.7 billion in wasted worktime, according to an estimate prepared by the global outplacement consultants Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc.
West Coast offices face more of a risk of a productivity loss then their counterparts elsewhere in the nation, with the telecasts beginning at 9:10
a.m. Thursday and Friday and continuing through the rest of the work day.
In addition to time spent working on brackets, talking at the water cooler about the tournament and watching games shown online, the tournament is a threat to office computer systems, said John A. Challenger, chief executive officer of Challenger, Gray & Christmas.
"This year, CBSSports.com is boasting that the video player will feature a wider screen and additional features such as live scoreboards," Challenger said. "This undoubtedly sounds great to the college basketball fan, but to the company information technology manager, it, of course, sounds like a busy day troubleshooting Internet crashes and network delays.
"Those who insist there will be no impact are kidding themselves. It might be a slight drop in output or it could be slow Internet connection as bandwith is sapped by employees watching streaming feeds of the games."
San Diego will be the first Southern California team in action. The Toreros take on Connecticut in Tampa Bay in a game expected to start around 11:45 a.m.
USC faces Kansas State at 4:10 p.m. in Omaha, Neb.
Cal State Fullerton, in its first tournament appearance since 1978, will face Wisconsin, also in Omaha, approximately 25 minutes after the USC-Wisconsin game.
UCLA will face Mississippi Valley State at Anaheim's Honda Center in a game expected to start at 6:55 p.m.
(© 2008 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Wire services contributed to this report.)
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