The NCAA appears intent on expanding the men’s NCAA Tournament, even if it would dilute what is currently one of the best sporting events on the planet.
College athletics’ governing body has swirled around the topic of expansion for years, seeking more NCAA Tournament berths for more schools. More NCAA tournament games also mean more television windows and more revenue-generating opportunities for what is the NCAA’s cash cow.
And according to a report from ESPN’s Pete Thamelthis expansion could come sooner rather than later.
This week, Thamel reported that the expansion of the NCAA tournament could come as soon as this coming season. And that the NCAA is currently in talks with current rights partners CBS Sports and Warner Bros. Discovery on the logistics necessary to achieve this.
A decision on whether to expand the NCAA men’s and women’s basketball tournaments will be made in the coming weeks, sources told ESPN.
If the decision is made to expand, the expansion would begin during the 2025-26 season, according to sources, and the tournament would have no more than 76 teams. Sources have told ESPN for months that 76 was the more likely expansion option than 72, because the current men’s and women’s tournament format is 68 teams.
The NCAA remains in talks with its media partners about this potential expansion, which have been going on for months.
Interestingly, these rights partners are the ones who have expressed caution about expanding the NCAA Tournament. David Berson, president of CBS Sports said in March“It’s an event that captivates the country for three weeks every year. There’s nothing, nothing like March Madness. So as they look to see if there are any adjustments that need to be made, I think everyone is being really diligent and smart and careful. Because as much as we want to improve it given the change in the college landscape that may warrant expansion for a few teams, no one wants to do anything that might take away from how special this tournament is. And I think that that’s really where the emphasis is.
A diluted and expanded NCAA Tournament to 76 teams means eight additional teams enter, which amounts to four additional play-in games. As for how the NCAA could accomplish this, it could hold what would amount to a mini-first round Monday or Tuesday where play-in games would be played all day at two regional sites instead of what we’ve seen in recent years where games are played in prime time in Dayton. Alternatively, you can see simultaneous games played in prime time on different networks, much like we see during Sweet 16 coverage.
However, instead of the fun of watching the tournament itself, it will always feel like a play-in with the likelihood that it will be more of the smaller conference champions and bubble teams from the larger conferences that will flirt with a .500 record. While this may generate more revenue and more opportunities, it will hurt the quality of the product overall. But it’s clear that the NCAA decided long ago that even March Madness was worth the sacrifice.
