Big Leagues Rewarded

The nation’s major college conferences will receive a bigger share of the money CBS pays to televise the NCAA basketball tournament.

“Everyone sees this pot of gold out there and wants a big piece of it,” NCAA executive director Cedric Dempsey said from Kansas City, Mo. “It’s important to make sure we’ve looked at some of the greatest needs.”

The decision to increase the payments comes after the Division I-A conferences circulated a secret memo among themselves, urging Dempsey to address the problems facing their schools.

The NCAA said it was not pressured into increasing the payments because of the memo.