Just hours before NCAA Tournament games were set to tip off, CBS Sports’ website experienced widespread outages.
The outages were likely caused by a large amount of traffic from procrastinators trying to make last-second changes to their brackets. CBS Sports requires users to have their brackets completed before the first round begins.
NCAA Tournament games began at 12:15 p.m., when Notre Dame takes on Princeton. Service was restored shortly after tip-off.
CBS Sports issued the following statement to CNN.
"During the hour before the first tip, service was down due to overwhelming demand. We certainly regret the outage but are pleased to say that service has since been restored."
CBS Sports' website crashed just minutes before tipoff: pic.twitter.com/38g0gXVVA6
— Alex Hider (@alexhider) March 16, 2017
This isn't the first time fantasy sports has caused a website to crash. In week one of the 2016 NFL season, increased traffic on ESPN's Fantasy Football app caused widespread outages.
Social media users took to Twitter to express their frustration with CBS Sports.
CBS Sports servers crashing 30 min before the tourney starts is not a good look pic.twitter.com/c6LVubOCdM
— Jordan Pereira (@jordanpereira23) March 16, 2017
When you find out CBS Sports Crashed and you need to tweak your tournament bracket pic.twitter.com/ISZu00DlTU
— T-Rex (@TRexRevenge) March 16, 2017
Everyone at @CBSSports right now trying to fix their servers pic.twitter.com/I8B1qoAEFF
— Mac (@MacAllen03) March 16, 2017
Live look at @CBSSports offices right now pic.twitter.com/JpxURbfdbu
— Gordon A. Bonker II (@G_Bonks) March 16, 2017
Me: Lemme go make a crucial last-minute change to my March Madness bracket
CBS Sports: *site crashes and servers never reboot*
Me: pic.twitter.com/8W2VmotOfZ— sammy (@sammynnj) March 16, 2017
Alex Hider is a writer for the E.W. Scripps National Desk. Follow him on Twitter @alexhider.
