Erik Simpson, English, creates alternate way to bet on March Madness
Grinnell in the News 2013-03-19
Summary:
The Auction Method
Every team is up for grabs, and you can bid on whom you want in your stable. In some variations, each participant has a maximum budget, and you can blow that allotment on a couple of the best teams or diversify with a large group of Cinderellas. In the version that Grinnell College professor Erik Simpson helped come up with, "teams are bought in a standard auction format, with rising bids in 10-cent increments." Then, each game that one of your teams wins is worth a certain percentage of the total pot. (For example, in Simpson's pool, each victory in the round of 64 is worth 1.25 percent of the kitty.)
Pros: In an email, Daniel Lauve, who developed his own auction format, said: "It's a good way to personalize the tournament. Each team is tied to exactly one person, and the 'portfolios' that people put together usually reflect their personalities. There's a certain machismo that always results in No. 1 seeds being overbid, and people who don't follow basketball can pick schools they like and participate for a buck or two."
Cons: Organizing a live auction is a pain. Then again, live auctions are really fun. And somebody gets to bang a gavel.