From noon on March sixteenth until about midnight of April third, every American sports fan had their focus on one thing: March Madness.

During this period, students would constantly check their phones while teachers and adults would be sneaking in a quick peek on their computers whenever they have the chance. During tournament games, sports bars packed themselves full of sports fans of all ages.

This near month span can lead to heartbreak for most fans. According to ESPN, roughly seventy million March Madness brackets are filled out this year, and not one of them was one hundred percent correct. The chance of a fan filling out a perfect bracket is next to none. Actually, according Sports Illustrated, the odds are about 1 to 9.2 quintillion. ESPN and multi-billionaire Warren Buffet have offered very valuable prizes to anyone who manages to conquer the odds. Entering a perfect bracket into ESPN’s bracket challenge will win one a million dollars. According to Forbes, Warren Buffett’s prize is a little different: he offers a job. No one knows exactly what this job entails but either way the winner will most likely make a lot of money.

This tournament does not just benefit the fans. March Madness benefits the coaches, the players, the basketball programs participating,and the schools themselves. This month-long event brings in crazy revenue, and not just for the NCAA. According to Wallethub, the cheapest single ticket in 2016 for a game was $477. Also that year, there were 3.5 million extra cases of beer purchased to try to keep up with the extreme demand. As for coaches, with every win their team achieves in the tournament, the coach gets an additional bonus check.

A good portion of the NBA prospects will play in the March Madness tournament while in college. Their draft stock will rise with a better performance in the tournament, which will make them more money down the road. If an individual is a highly recruited high school basketball player, there is a good chance they are watching the tournament. That is how the best basketball programs get the best high school basketball players to come to their school. The recruiters use their previous wins in March to persuade the future stars to come to their school. The schools as a whole benefit much more than just making money from their basketball teams. In 2013, a very small southern school that even sports analyst, Stephen A. Smith had not heard of made the NCAA tournament. Florida Gulf Coast University, an underdog in the tournament, ended up making it to the sweet 16. According to Eamonn Brennan, an ESPN staff writer, this benefited the school in not only monetarily; FGCU’s number of applicants in the 2014 school year went up by 35.4 percent.

The best thing about this tournament, is that no matter what team the fans are rooting for, all fans are consumed by the same sporting events for a whole month. The NCAA tournament brings all types of fans all across the world together and that is something special.