March Madness is the moment when college basketball turns into a national fever dream—and it’s also one of the biggest branding flexes in sports history.
But here’s the plot twist: the NCAA didn’t even invent the term.
Back in 1908, a high school tournament in Illinois started drawing sellout crowds. People were feral for it. By 1939, Henry V. Porter—a school administrator and lowkey branding savant—coined the phrase “March Madness” in a heartfelt essay about the sheer pandemonium of playoff basketball. That same year, the NCAA held its first men’s tournament... with just eight teams and zero marketing plan. Classic NCAA.
Porter’s phrase caught on in Illinois first—radio broadcasters and newspapers started using it during the high school tourney through the '40s and '50s. By 1973, the Illinois High School Association (IHSA) was slapping “March Madness” on programs, trophies, and probably cafeteria Jell-O molds.
Enter Brent Musburger, former Chicago sportswriter turned CBS broadcaster. In 1982, he casually dropped “March Madness” on air during an NCAA tournament broadcast. Instant catchphrase. The only problem? The NCAA didn’t actually own the rights to it.
That honor belonged to Charles Besser of Intersport, who had the foresight (or pettiness?) to trademark the term in 1989 for a show he produced. This led to a delightfully awkward copyright triangle between Intersport, the IHSA, and the NCAA. For a few years, they sort of shared custody like bitter divorced parents. But in 2010, the NCAA did what the NCAA does best—cut a fat check and took over. $17.2 million later, “March Madness” was officially theirs.
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But here's the kicker: even after all that, the NCAA refused to let the women’s tournament use the phrase. Not until 2022—after public backlash and a pretty damning internal review—did the women’s side finally get the branding it deserved. So yeah, the NCAA was gatekeeping a nickname.
And one more weird bit: while “March Madness” became the public face of college basketball, the NCAA quietly filed dozens of trademarks connected to it. “March Mayhem.” “Midnight Madness.” Even “Selection Sunday.” Basically, if you’ve ever muttered a phrase during March that sounds remotely sports-y, there’s a decent chance the NCAA tried to slap a ® on it.
Today, March Madness isn’t just a tournament. It’s a multibillion-dollar empire built on buzzer-beaters, Cinderella stories, and a phrase that was literally borrowed from high schoolers.
So next time you hear the band strike up and the crowd start to scream? Just know: somewhere in Illinois, Henry V. Porter is probably laughing.
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