Why does the college basketball championship game start so late?

Fans need only to stay up late to keep up with everything that's going on.

The beginning of the national championship game isn't until 9:20 p.m. Eastern Time, which is a time when many youngsters would typically be retiring to bed.

The NCAA has not yet said why the national championship game starts at such a late time, but we can make some educated guesses based on the west coast audience.

This year, the game will be played in Houston, so the local launch time is 8:20 p.m. CT. However, when this game has been played on the east coast, it has always started at 9:20 p.m. ET.

Another likely reason for the late start time is the length of college basketball games.

Even though the college football championship game starts earlier, it usually lasts more than three hours.

Most NBA Finals games start at 9 p.m. ET, but most NBA games last at least two hours and thirty minutes. Games in college can last as little as two hours.

Timeouts and reviews in the closing minutes dragged the 2022 championship game to two hours and 20 minutes. Because of it, college basketball championship games conclude about the same time as previous championship games.

A later kickoff time might encourage more people to watch the pregame programmes, giving networks access to viewers for more than just the game's first two hours.