(Denver, Co.) - On the "Road to the Final Four" the media gets overwhelmed with media guides, press releases, transcriptions of press conferences, etc. One of the most interesting sections I've found searching through these volumes of information is appendix 7 of our region NCAA media guide -

NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship Tournament History.

It traces the history of America's favorite college sports tournament from the first tournament in 1939 through last year's championship. Here are some of my favorite notes - 1946 - the first telecast of an NCAA Championship game. A local broadcast in New York City by CBS-TV. The team that won the title that year? Oklahoma State beating North Carolina in the finals 43-40. The initial viewing audience was estimated to be about 500,000.

1951 - NCAA tournament field expanded to 16 teams including 10 conference champions that got automatic berths - Big Seven (OSU & OU), Big Ten, Border, Eastern (Ivy), Missouri Valley, Pacific Coast, Skyline, Southeastern, Southern and Southwest.

1953 -bracket extended from 16 to 22 teams and fluctuated between 22 and 25 teams until 1974.

1966 - Net income for the entire NCAA tournament exceeded $500,000 for the first time.

1973 - The Thursday-Saturday format for the Final Four and Championship game was changed to the current Saturday-Monday. And the television rights exceeded one million dollars for the first time.

1975 -First appearance of the term "Final Four" and a 32-team bracket was adopted.

1979 - Bracket expanded to 40 teams and all teams were seeded for the first time.

1980 - Bracket expanded to 48 teams.

1981- The final "third place" game played in the tournament with Virginia defeating LSU. The NCAA registered a trademark for the term "Final Four".

1982 - The "selection show" was televised live for the first time.

1985 - The tournament bracket was expanded to 64 teams, which eliminated all first-round byes. CBS had a record 19.8 million homes watch Villanova's national championship victory over Georgetown.

1991 - CBS signs a $1-BILLION dollar deal to televise seven years of the NCAA tournament.

1992 - Duke wins a second consecutive national championship, becoming the first team to defend its title since UCLA in 1973.

1994 - President Bill Clinton became the first sitting president to attend the NCAA tournament when he attended the Midwest Regional championship game in Dallas and the national semi-finals and finals in Charlotte to cheer on the Arkansas Razorbacks to the championship.

2000- The "play-in" game was added the Tuesday before the first round pitting the teams seeded No. 64 and 65 after 31 conferences became eligible for automatic qualification in 2001.

2003-Minimum Final Four seating capacity set at 40,000. San Antonio for 2008, Detroit 2009, Indianapolis 2010 and Houston 2011.

2007 - The University of Florida became the seventh school to win back-to-back national championships defeating Ohio State 84-75 in the title game. Florida joined Oklahoma State (1945-46); Kentucky (1948-49); San Francisco (1955-56); Cincinnati (1961-62); UCLA (1964-65 and 1967-1973) and Duke (1991-92) as repeat NCAA basketball champions.

Hope you enjoyed this NCAA Basketball Championship history lesson. It should give your some good trivia material for the office or sports bar.