ESPN Issues Apology After Accidentally Sharing NCAA Women’s Basketball Bracket Early
March is a huge month for college basketball fans. The NCAA’s highly acclaimed March Madness tournament highlights the most skilled men’s and women’s teams at various colleges and universities throughout the US.
Viewers tuned into ESPNU’s Bracketology on Monday were in for a surprise, however. The show aired the entire bracket for the NCAA women’s basketball tournament hours before it was set to go live.
ESPN immediately took to social media to address the mix-up.
The statement said, “In working with the NCAA to prepare for tonight's Women's Selection Special we received the bracket, similar to years past. In the midst of our preparation, the bracket was mistakenly posted on ESPNU.”
The network offered a sincere apology for the mishap.
“We deeply regret the error and extend our apology to the NCAA and the women's basketball community. We will conduct a thorough review of our process to ensure it doesn't happen in the future.”
In light of the bracket airing almost four hours before its original airtime, ESPN said, “We will now broadcast the full bracket at 5 p.m. ET on ESPN2 and the regularly-scheduled show on ESPN at 7 p.m.”
While some fans may have been disappointed at the early announcement, the glitch named Baylor, Mississippi, Louisville and Notre Dame as the four no. 1 seeds in the NCAA Women's division.