College basketball tournament season is right around the corner, and it’s that time of year when an underdog and an upset will be the death of your 2024 NCAA Tournament bracket.
But if you make the right moves in your game selection, you could win big in the 2024 Battle of the Brackets — a free contest hosted by the Dayton Daily News, Springfield News-Sun and Journal-News.
Our contest will feature a $500 local gift card prize pack donated by a local business. The bracket scoreboard leader at the ending of the tournament will win our local prize. Entries also have a shot at winning the $1 million national prize.
The 2023 Battle of the Brackets begins Sunday, March 18, and will ceremonially begin after the tournament line-up of games is published at 6 p.m. Election Sunday. Simply input your preferences into the online bracket tool that appears below all picks must be submitted before the first round of tournament play begins on March 21.
Whether you spend hours researching statistics or a coin flip to determine your winner, enter your picks and sit back to watch the madness unfold.
The contest is free, with no purchase required. Official contest system can be found here.
1. Eligibility:
This contest is open to legal residents of the 50 US states and the District of Columbia, who are 18 years of age or older. Local affiliates offering a contest prize may limit eligibility for the approved prize; Eligibility for local affiliate awards will be posted on the local affiliate website. Employees of Sponsor, awardee, and their affiliates, and the immediate family and household members of each such employee are not eligible to participate or win a prize. This Contest is void where prohibited by law.
2. Period of Entry:
Brackets must be completed and submitted by 8:00 PM EDT on March 17, 2024 and approximately 15 minutes prior to the first round of the Men’s College Basketball Tournament on March 21, 2024.
3. How to enter:
Register [DB1]:
At any time prior to and during the Entry Period beginning on March 4th, 2024 at 12:00 AM EDT, you must register for the Contest and establish a User Profile that you wish to complete and submit your bracket during the Entry Period.
Each participant must completely fill out the online registration form with all required information including your name, zip code, valid email address and phone number including area code. Each registrant will determine their own username and password. Each registrant’s username and password will allow participants to log in and return to the contest site to view their predictions, points and standings.
Submit brackets
After registration, select each team you predicted for each game in each round of the Men’s College Basketball Tournament, excluding the four play-in games , and enter your predicted score for each tournament game. You do not have to pick the winners of the four play-in games, as they are not comprised as part of the competition. Your complete and timely submission of brackets constitutes your entry. Limited to one entry per person.
The authorized account holder is a natural person who is assigned an email address by an Internet access provider, online service provider, or other organization responsible for assigning the email address or domain associated with the submitted email address. Multiple entrants are not allowed to share the same email address. Entries submitted will not be recognized or refunded. The use of any device that automates entry is prohibited. Proof of submitted of an entry will not be thought proof of receipt.
4. Scoring and Selection of Winners:
Every round of the tournament is worth up to 64 points. The tournament consists of 6 rounds up to a total of 384 points. You get 2 points for each first round game for which you correctly picked the outcome. You get 4 points for each second round game for which you correctly picked the outcome. You get 8 points for every third round game for which you have correctly picked the outcome. You get 16 points for every fourth round game for which you correctly pick the outcome. You will get 32 points for every fifth round for which you choose the result correctly. You get 64 points for correctly picking the winner of the championship game. If a game is cancelled, forfeited or indefinitely suspended for any reason, points will be awarded to the team advancing to the next round of competition as if they had won the actual game.
Full Bracket Winner: The participant with the highest total score for all tournament rounds will be deemed the full bracket winner, subject to eligibility verification.
Tiebreaker:
In the event of a tie for the overall bracket winner, the “Tie-Breaker Score Estimation Formula” described below will be used to determine the overall bracket winner.
Tie-breaker score estimation formula:
If tied contestants correctly pick the winner of the championship game:
1. Deduct what the participant select as the championship game score for the winning team from the original winning team’s score and square this value.
2. Deduct what the participant chose as the championship game score from the actual losing team score and square this value.
3. Add the values from 1 and 2 above to get the participant’s “estimated score”. The tied participant with the highest “score estimate” will be deemed the winner.
If there is still a tie or if there is a tie but the participants do not correctly select the winner of the championship game, the ties will be broken based on the following criteria in this order:
4. Scored the most points in the fifth round.
OFFICIAL RULES AND WINNER’S LIST:
To receive a copy of these Official Rules or a winner’s list after the Promotion ends, send an email request to winners@audience.io within 60 days of the Promotion ending.