College basketball (outside of the top handful of programs) generates almost all of its money from the NCAA tournament. The NCAA tournament, in turn, generates about 90% of the overall NCAA budget on an annual basis. So the question is this - do the networks (ESPN, CBS, TNT, etc.) pay top dollar to televise the NCAA tournament. The question moving forward is two parts: How many top players go the NBA/G League/D League route How do the networks/advertisers respond We already know what college basketball looks like if you subtract the TV money. Go to any mid major and you will see it. Drive down to Wichita State, or up to Creighton, or over to any number of other mid major programs. Even the ones that do sell lots of tickets do not have the same financial strength as those that appear on TV regularly. And these are programs that have consistently had success. If the TV/advertising money dries up, college basketball will have to change because the current model is unsustainable without that money.