24.4 Million Brackets: ESPN Tournament Challenge Sets New Record for Third Consecutive Year

- More than 709 brackets per second at peak, more than 1.1 billion picks made
- Women’s Tournament Challenge closes tomorrow at 11:30 a.m. ET
- Perfect Bracket Tracker with real-time results for both men’s, women’s TC
For the third year in a row ESPN Men’s Tournament Challenge, the No. 1 most popular college basketball bracket game, set a new all-time record with 24.4 million completed brackets before the start of the tournament today, up 10% compared to last year’s record of 22.6 million.
At the peak period of entries shortly before the start of the first game today, ESPN Tournament Challenge registered more than 709 brackets per second.
The 24.4 million completed brackets this year equates more than 1.1 billion picks made.
Duke Most-Picked to Win
The most popular pick to win the men’s championship is Duke with 25% of all brackets picking the Blue Devils. Florida is the second most-picked to win the final with 21%, and more fans chose Duke, Florida, Auburn, and Houston to reach the Final Four than any other combination of teams.
Perfect Bracket Tracker
ESPN Tournament Challenge allows fans to track in real-time the number of perfect brackets remaining in both men’s and women’s Tournament Challenge games with the Perfect Bracket Tracker. The tool also provides insight on the games that have had, and could potentially have, the most impact on perfect brackets.
Women’s Tournament Challenge Closing Tomorrow
The ESPN Women’s Tournament Challenge will continue to accept brackets until just prior to tip-off of tomorrow’s first game in the Round of 64 between No. 6 Michigan and the No. 11 play-in winner Iowa State in the Birmingham 3 Regional at 11:30 a.m. ET on ESPN2. ESPN is the exclusive home to the NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Championship.
###