This Sunday will bring tears and joy to many, as Selection Sunday determines what teams dance their way into March Madness. Whether or not you are an avid college basketball fan, the tournament captures much of the nation’s attention this month.

The tournament’s schedule of games during the workday leaves many trying to watch from their desks, in fact one survey of IT professionals found that 42{09f965da52dc6ab4c1643a77bd40d1f729d807040cd8db540234bb981a782222} remark that streaming games has impacted their network in the past. Of those affected, 37{09f965da52dc6ab4c1643a77bd40d1f729d807040cd8db540234bb981a782222} report their networks have slowed down, while 34{09f965da52dc6ab4c1643a77bd40d1f729d807040cd8db540234bb981a782222} report March Madness activity has essentially shut down their networks for a period of time.

A Nielsen study on the 2016 tournament found that nearly one-third of the U.S. television audience watched at least six minutes of the tournament with the 73 telecasts reaching more than 97 million people. To reach this large and well educated audience, advertisers spent approximately $910 million on March Madness commercials in 2016. With college teams participating in the tournament, it seems logical that the majority of the audience holds at least a bachelor’s degree.

Almost three-fourths of March Madness bracket participants (71{09f965da52dc6ab4c1643a77bd40d1f729d807040cd8db540234bb981a782222}) watch games at home, 12{09f965da52dc6ab4c1643a77bd40d1f729d807040cd8db540234bb981a782222} watch at a bar, restaurant or other public location, and 24{09f965da52dc6ab4c1643a77bd40d1f729d807040cd8db540234bb981a782222} use a computer to check scores.

Another survey found that 76{09f965da52dc6ab4c1643a77bd40d1f729d807040cd8db540234bb981a782222} of employees admitted to checking scores during work hours and 53{09f965da52dc6ab4c1643a77bd40d1f729d807040cd8db540234bb981a782222} watched or followed sporting events on their computers while at work.

The same survey found that 41{09f965da52dc6ab4c1643a77bd40d1f729d807040cd8db540234bb981a782222} of workers report having participated in college basketball brackets in their offices, with more men than women taking part (53{09f965da52dc6ab4c1643a77bd40d1f729d807040cd8db540234bb981a782222} of men; 29{09f965da52dc6ab4c1643a77bd40d1f729d807040cd8db540234bb981a782222} of women). And, $22.44 is the average contribution to an office pool.

These in-office competitions can help boost morale with the survey finding that 73{09f965da52dc6ab4c1643a77bd40d1f729d807040cd8db540234bb981a782222} of workers look forward to going to work more when they participate in office pools. In addition, 50{09f965da52dc6ab4c1643a77bd40d1f729d807040cd8db540234bb981a782222} report meeting up with a coworker outside of work to watch a game, and 39{09f965da52dc6ab4c1643a77bd40d1f729d807040cd8db540234bb981a782222} say they became closer with a coworker after participating in an office pool.

(At the insistence of POS partners, we want to assure clients that nobody at Public Opinion Strategies spends ANY of their working hours with any NCAA tournament games on.)