March Madness could cost employers almost $10 billion in lost productivity

A 2019 survey by OfficeTeam found workers spend 25.5 minutes per workday on March Madness-related activities during the tournament. If that holds true this year, across the 16 workdays between selection Sunday on March 17 and the championship game on Monday, April 8, workers will have spent 408 minutes, or 6.8 hours, on March Madness-related activities at work. That would mean the tournament could cost employers conservatively $9,607,085,968.