March Madness Fans Mock CNN Segment About Employers Losing Estimated $17.3 Billion in Productivity: ‘Try for $20 Billion Next Year’

CNN was roasted on Twitter by March Madness fans after they aired a segment to show employers lose an estimated $17.3 billion in productivity during college basketball’s annual tournament.

Yearly, the first round of the spectacle, along with the Sweet 16, takes place on a Thursday and Friday, leading countless workers to not pay attention to their workload with games starting at noon eastern for the first round and not ending until well past midnight.

On Saturday, CNN Newsroom host Fredricka Whitfield chatted with business reporter Nathaniel Meyersohn to describe how much employers lose in productivity due to the tournament.

“We love watching the NCAA for a variety of reasons, but it costs employers in lost productivity, right?” Whitfield said. “We’re just so distracted?”

“We’re very distracted during this time of year, Fred,” Meyersohn said. “All of the time filling our brackets, doing the research, just to see the brackets get busted right into the tournament, and then watching the games during work hours. It’s costing employers in lost productivity.”

“Lost productivity up to $17.3 billion this year. That’s up a billion dollars from a year ago,” he continued. “And that’s because we have more Americans working than they did a year ago. Wages are also up, so that’s increasing lost productivity, and we’re spending more time researching our brackets.”

Whitfield was stunned at the enormous number Meyersohn had shared. “That’s big money when you put it that way.”

According to CBS Sports, there were no more perfect brackets registered on their website as early as Friday, which was only the end of the tournament’s first round. Many brackets were destroyed after 16 seed Fairleigh Dickinson upset number one seed Purdue.

When CNN tweeted out the clip on Saturday night, they were met with harsh criticism from sports fans who were unsympathetic how much the March Madness games might cost their employers.

https://twitter.com/russbengtson/status/1637280164299014145?s=20

Watch above via CNN.