By — Margaret Myers Margaret Myers Leave a comment 0comments Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/whats-a-perfect-march-madness-bracket-worth-1-billion Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter What’s a perfect March Madness bracket worth? $1 billion Nation Jan 21, 2014 1:13 PM EDT The odds are astronomical, but think of the bragging rights you would earn if you filled out a perfect March Madness bracket. This year, it could also earn you a cool $1 billion. That’s because Quicken Loans and Berkshire Hathaway have teamed up to offer a $1 billion prize to anyone who can correctly pick all the winners in this year’s NCAA men’s basketball tournament, where 68 teams will compete in single-elimination games. “We’ve seen a lot of contests offering a million dollars for putting together a good bracket, which got us thinking, what is the perfect bracket worth? We decided a billion dollars seems right for such an impressive feat,” said Jay Farner, president and chief marketing officer of Quicken Loans, in an article in the Detroit Free Press. Nobody is known to have ever picked a perfect March Madness bracket. One mathematicioan caluclated the odds at 1-in-100 million trillion. You have better odds at getting struck by lightening. Twice. In the same day. Registration opens March 3. The rules are on Quicken Loans’ Facebook page. We're not going anywhere. Stand up for truly independent, trusted news that you can count on! Donate now By — Margaret Myers Margaret Myers Margaret Myers is the former Digital News Editor for PBS NewsHour. She is a former editor for ESPN.com. She also led the features department at the Amarillo Globe-News in west Texas. @margaretvm
The odds are astronomical, but think of the bragging rights you would earn if you filled out a perfect March Madness bracket. This year, it could also earn you a cool $1 billion. That’s because Quicken Loans and Berkshire Hathaway have teamed up to offer a $1 billion prize to anyone who can correctly pick all the winners in this year’s NCAA men’s basketball tournament, where 68 teams will compete in single-elimination games. “We’ve seen a lot of contests offering a million dollars for putting together a good bracket, which got us thinking, what is the perfect bracket worth? We decided a billion dollars seems right for such an impressive feat,” said Jay Farner, president and chief marketing officer of Quicken Loans, in an article in the Detroit Free Press. Nobody is known to have ever picked a perfect March Madness bracket. One mathematicioan caluclated the odds at 1-in-100 million trillion. You have better odds at getting struck by lightening. Twice. In the same day. Registration opens March 3. The rules are on Quicken Loans’ Facebook page. We're not going anywhere. Stand up for truly independent, trusted news that you can count on! Donate now