While the NCAA tries to balance its educational mission with the commercial realities of signing a $6 billion contract, the television networks -- particularly CBS -- face their own challenges.

For CBS, the joy of having perhaps its crown sports jewel secured for 11 more years may be tempered by the demands of having to "cover" its investment.

"Figuring out how to package the different elements is fairly easy to do," CBS Sports President Sean McManus said of the bundled rights agreement. "Figuring out how to creatively sell them in order to cover the $6 billion is our No. 1 challenge."

Throw in a down year right off the bat due to the September 11 terrorist attacks and the challenge grows.

"Having said that, we knew that over the course of 11 years, the kind of robust advertising marketplace we had been experiencing wasn't going to last. We knew there were going to be some down periods, we just didn't know that one was going to be in the first year. But it's still going to be a responsible deal financially for CBS."

McManus said that's largely because of the bundle. He said the total revenue generated by packaging all the ancillary rights, including corporate sponsorships, licensing, publishing and radio with the TV rights would be more than if those pieces were sold separately.

McManus also said that there would be no pressure on the NCAA to be more "commercial" in order to help television cover its investment. Like everyone else involved with the contract, McManus said the networks would work to support the NCAA's educational mission.

"There is a logical and comfortable marriage between certain commercial aspects of our new deal and what the NCAA is trying to accomplish," he said. "There's nothing necessarily contradictory between the ideals of higher education and some of the values that sponsors try to portray. If a corporation wants to project an image of excellence, fairness and educational values and wants to do so through an association with the NCAA, both sides benefit."

Similarly, ESPN President George Bodenheimer said his cable network is "very mindful of the educational initiatives the NCAA promotes."

"We're very sensitive to this and we want to work with the NCAA as partners," Bodenheimer said. "There are a lot of great stories that come out of college sports, and we can certainly highlight the educational side to those stories."

'Co-opetition'

Seeing competitive TV sports entities equally excited over a shared initiative is a result many wouldn't have thought possible several years ago. Even NCAA President Cedric W. Dempsey said the successful CBS/ESPN marriage was a "a bonus we didn't expect."

But McManus and Bodenheimer speak matter-of-factly about the relationship between former rivals.

McManus said that in the past, CBS might have been wary of allowing ESPN the opening-round game or air time during the Friday practices before the Men's Final Four (which will happen under the new agreement) because it would have brought a competitor closer to the event.

"Now that we've secured our position for the next 11 years, that's no longer an issue," McManus said. "We came to the realization that ESPN shouldn't be looked at as a competitor, especially since this deal is an 11-year extension. If it were going to be renegotiated in three years, I think we would have been less inclined to work out a partnership."

"Everyone knows that when you watch the Final Four, you're going to watch it on CBS," he said. "That doesn't mean you can't watch some live practice on Friday afternoon on ESPN."

"There's a term called 'co-opetition,' " Bodenheimer said. "It puts us in a win-win situation and in the best position to promote college sports, which benefits the NCAA as well."

It's also a position that McManus said CBS is comfortable with.

-- Gary T. Brown