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Administrative meeting. At least one representative from the broadcast entity (i.e., the producer, director or coordinating producer) must attend the pre-championship administrative meeting. The administrative meeting includes the NCAA sports committee, NCAA staff, school administrators, coaches, host institution and local organizing committee.

Announce position. The location of the announce position shall be in the primary broadcast position that is normally used for that particular sport. A minimum of six seats shall be designated for the position. The NCAA staff shall approve the announcer position in advance. In cases of championship sites that are not predetermined, the primary television entity shall have priority over newspapers, Internet and local news crews (if rights are non-exclusive).

Awards ceremony. The championship team awards will be presented on the court/field immediately following the national championship game. The television entity should communicate the "postgame" timing needs to the NCAA broadcast or championships staff on site.

Banners. Television broadcast entities may display a maximum of two television banners at NCAA championship sites. The television banners may only display the name and logo of the broadcast network. Television (CBS, ESPN, CBS COLLEGE SPORTS NETWORK, etc) may have only two banners. National radio (Westwood One) may display a maximum of one banner. Local radio or student radio may not display banners at NCAA Championships. The NCAA staff on site must approve of the designated location of the network banner placement.

Basketball: hand-held cameras on the floor will be restricted to the free throw lane (out to the free throw line) during television timeouts to document bench subject matter.

Camera and technical crew "bibs." Selected NCAA championships will require all camera and technical crews who have access to the floor or field level to wear a "bib" provided by the NCAA.

Camera restrictions. (See also Team Benches below ).

Cooling-off period. (See Interviews below.)

Communications. The broadcast entity will provide television communication between the scorer's table (TOC position) and the primary television truck.

Distance from team huddles: Cameras must maintain a minimum ten (10) foot perimeter from team benches for all other sports.

Formats. The NCAA Broadcast & Internet unit has provided sample generic television formats for the production of numerous sports.

Halftime and between games. Broadcast partner may interview non-participating student-athletes and coaches during halftime of a semifinal contest (e.g., if team A has won in game one, the broadcast entity may interview a member from team A during game two between teams C and D.). Neither a coach nor a student-athlete is required to participate in these interviews. Interview requests should be made through the respective sports information contact.

Coaches from the game being played may be interviewed one at a time at the half (one coach going into halftime, one coach coming out of halftime).

Host set. If applicable, the host set will be in a location predetermined by the broadcast entity and the NCAA. The broadcast entity is responsible for any costs of renting scaffolding, risers or lifts.

Hotel rooms. Rooms for television executives, talent, production crew and staff may be designated at the headquarters hotel or at a separate property. Television personnel for Division I men's basketball and Division I women's basketball may not stay in any of the team hotels. This does not apply to other championships.

Injury reports. Broadcast entities should make arrangements with the sports information contacts of the respective participating institutions to receive student-athlete injury reports during the competition. Due to the privacy act, institutions are not mandated to give injury reports.

Interviews. If requested, both the winning and losing coach shall grant postgame interviews (not to exceed four minutes) to the primary broadcast entity (CBS or ESPN) and/or the NCAA radio network (Westwood One) providing the network still is providing live coverage from the arena. Neither network shall inordinately delay the coaches' return to the locker rooms. If the network is not prepared to conduct live interviews immediately, it may be necessary for the interviews to be taped.The losing coach should be recorded off the court near the locker room area. (The NCAA media coordinator shall have the responsibility to terminate the four-minute interview period, not CBS, ESPN or the NCAA radio network.). The television four-minute interview period begins as soon as the contest is over (i.e. the clock hits 0:00).

A "cooling-off period" has been established for coaches to be with their student-athletes in the locker room after the game. The period begins when the head coach enters the locker room immediately after the game or after an interview (not to exceed four minutes) by the primary broadcast entity or the NCAA Radio Network. The period will be five minutes for the winning team and 15 minutes for the losing team. Following the national championship game, the cooling-off period will be ten minutes for the losing team and five minutes for the winning team after the head coach reaches the locker room following the team's post-game celebration. A coach may shorten the cooling-off period, but may not extend it.

Locker Room Areas. Subject to permission by the head coach, broadcast partners may use a handheld camera and microphone to capture background footage of the team during pre-game and halftime only in the locker room. Coaches and student-athletes may not be interviewed at this time in the locker room area. Broadcast partners may not use footage from the locker rooms on a live basis.The participating institutions' sports information contacts will communicate to broadcast partner any authorization for locker room access following the pre-tournament administrative meeting.At times other than pre-game and halftime, broadcast partner sideline reporters and NCAA Productions may establish a presence outside the team locker rooms, tunnels and/or access hallways in the arena and in any other areas approved by the basketball committee.

Microphones. Under no circumstances may broadcast entities place microphones on coaches, student-athletes or officials during competition. Broadcast entities may not place microphones on or near team benches or team huddles or in team locker rooms. Microphones may be placed on selected officials with the approval of the NCAA.

NCAA bylaw 31.6.4.5 Live Microphone on Coach:

"The placement of microphones on a team coach or in team huddles and bench areas for television, radio or motion-picture purposes is prohibited in all NCAA championships."

Monitors/headsets. Broadcast entities will provide the following monitors and headsets:

Mult box. Broadcast entities such as CBS or ESPN are responsible for providing, at their own expense, a mult box with audio and video connectors for broadcast media to access.

Officials. The broadcast entity will not be provided with the hometowns of the game officials and/or referees.

Practices. The broadcast partners (CBS, ESPN, Westwood One) main production staff (e.g., producer, director, talent) will be permitted to observe the closed practices. Television personnel may not interview or talk with the coaches or student-athletes during any open or closed practice, unless the first contact is initiated by the team personnel.If the television set up is not complete, then television technicians may be permitted to be inside the venue to set up.

Pregame timing sheet. It is the responsibility of the NCAA broadcast and Internet staff to complete the pregame timing sheet prior to the event. If a broadcast and Internet staff member is on site for a championship, they must review it with the television producer and the timeout coordinator. The pregame timing sheet and the timeout format will be reviewed with the sports committee and with representatives of the participating institutions at the pre-tournament administrative meeting.In the event that an NCAA broadcast and Internet staff member is not on site, the NCAA championships staff member shall be the primary contact for the pregame timing sheet.

PSAs on ESPN or CBS COLLEGE SPORTS NETWORK. Institutions who wish to broadcast their own school public service announcements (PSAs) on nationally televised NCAA championship tournament games must purchase advertising time from the network at your own expense. The NCAA agreements with ESPN and CBS COLLEGE SPORTS NETWORK does not call for "comp" or free PSA time for participating institutions. It is recommended to contact ESPN the Monday before your tournament game by 9 a.m. ET to see if commercial inventory is available to purchase.

Public address announcer. The NCAA championships department will provide the public address announcer for all Division I national championships. Any NCAA championship with national television must have a full public address announcer script rehearsal on the set up day in conjunction with the broadcast entity. In the event that television does not have a set up day, the script must be approved by the television entity at the pre-tournament meeting.

Pregame and postgame broadcasts. NCAA championship pregame and postgame broadcasts using the NCAA name or logo in any way must still adhere to the NCAA's Advertising and Promotions Standards.

Robotic cameras. Broadcast entities may use robotic cameras at NCAA championships. The location of the robotic cameras must be approved in advance by the applicable sports committee and NCAA staff.Any robotic cameras mounted to the scorer's table may not be miked.

Setup /strike. All setup and major technical adjustments must be completed before the teams take the floor/field on game days. Strike may not begin until the teams have left the floor/field following the awards ceremony.In all instances, the safety of the participating student-athletes and team personnel will be of the utmost priority.

Site surveys. Broadcast entities must conduct a site survey at least eight months in advance.Upon completion of a site survey, broadcast entities must file a typed survey with the manager of broadcast programming and production listing any site concerns such as lighting, seat kills, power, etc. All final event production fact sheets must be sent to the NCAA manager of broadcast programming and production at least one week prior to the championship.

Start times. Each game will start according to the tip-off time assigned by the sport committee in consultation with the broadcast entity.The tip-off will not be delayed for any reason in the event the production schedule lags behind the approved timetable. The on-site BMI manager and NCAA championships staff member, in conjunction with the chair of the appropriate committee, will make the final determination regarding a request for a short delay under unusual circumstances.

Team benches. Camera people may not shoot from behind the team benches into the team huddle even if the team huddles out on the floor or field.The cameras may shoot only from outside a 10-foot perimeter of the benches.They must refrain from conversation with team, bench or official scorer's table personnel from the time the game begins until it ends, including timeouts and half time.The NCAA staff, in conjunction with the media coordinator, will designate the "off-limits" area surrounding the team benches. Subject to permission by the head coach, sideline reporters may listen in during timeouts/commercial breaks.This access is for the sideline reporter only and all camera restrictions will still apply.

Team buses. Subject to permission by the head coach, broadcast entities may videotape/film on the team buses. Additionally, broadcast entities may videotape the arrival of teams at the arena.It is permissible for broadcast entities to interview coaches at that time.

Timeout coordinators.

Basketball (Division I men)-- The NCAA men's basketball championship staff is responsible for hiring all timeout coordinators for the 14 Division I men's basketball sites.
Basketball (Division I women)-- The NCAA women's basketball championship staff is responsible for hiring the timeout coordinators for the Women's Final Four and the four women's basketball regionals.The sixteen first-/second-round site timeout coordinators are to be hired by each host site.
Hockey-- The NCAA ice hockey championship staff is responsible for hiring the timeout coordinator for all Division I Men's Ice Hockey and Division I Women's Ice Hockey Championship events.
All other championships-- It is the responsibility of the television entity or packager to secure a timeout coordinator for all televised NCAA championships.

Vendor dubs. All broadcast entities must provide the NCAA with a betacam SP or digital beta vendor dub the event(s) within thirty days of the championship. The audio must have mixed program on channel one and natural sound on channel two. The NCAA also requires a copy of the game "melt" or access to the truck ISO reels.

Section 3 - Programming and Production