WASHINGTON — In the lively city of East Lansing, Michigan, sports culture, particularly college sports, tends to dominate local discourse, with March being a season where NCAA tournament brackets are top of mind for many. Jessica Caruss, a lifelong resident and Michigan State enthusiast, finds herself not participating in the frenzy of creating a March Madness bracket, despite her love for sports.
Caruss admits that while she understands what the tournament entails, she opts out, citing a lack of interest in the gambling aspect of filling out brackets. Instead of excitement, the process seems stressful to her. She stands among numerous Americans who prefer to abstain from the annual bracket tradition. In fact, a survey from the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that around 70% of U.S. adults refrain from participating in bracket predictions for both the men’s and women’s NCAA basketball tournaments. Among these bracket avoiders, there is a notable trend with a larger proportion being women.
Caruss expresses her disinterest, saying, “I’m probably not going to watch. I haven’t been into it for quite some time. I’ve never understood the March madness.” Meanwhile, others who avoid brackets still plan to witness the games unfold. Chris Lara, residing in Belvidere, Illinois but originally from California, supports UCLA’s teams without venturing into bracket predictions, as he does not feel adept at foreseeing match winners.
“Picking the teams correctly or knowing the best ones is beyond my knowledge,” Lara shared. “I’d choose with my heart, leading to a less successful bracket.” For certain individuals, the tournament excitement hardly makes an impact.
Take Justin Campbell from Brookhaven, Mississippi, for instance. At 29, he’s never been a sports devotee, and the NCAA tournament doesn’t capture his interest, nor does he engage in the bracket pastime. His attention leans more toward football, reflecting the preferences of his community. “In another town, where it might be the main talk, it could be different,” Campbell remarked. “Here, football is more dominant.”
Even within the fraction of adults who occasionally engage in bracket predictions, roughly two-thirds state peer influence as a significant reason for their involvement. Laura Edain from Seattle’s suburbs echoes this sentiment, choosing not to chase March Madness. Although she once worked in an environment where March Madness conversations were more prevalent, her interest never piqued, and it continues to hold little appeal in her current circles.
A recent AP-NORC poll conducted from February 6-10 offers insight into these behaviors by reaching 1,112 adults through a sample representative of the U.S. population. The poll provides a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 4.1 percentage points.