The NCAA could formalize expansion of the men’s and women’s basketball tournaments to a 76-team format as soon as Thursday, ESPN reported on Wednesday night.
The tournament fields will expand from 68 teams beginning in 2027, with NCAA calls scheduled for Thursday as the final steps in the process, ESPN reported.
The NCAA denied any final decision had been made following multiple reports in late April that plans for expansion are expected to be approved by NCAA committees and formalized as soon as this month.
“Expanding the basketball tournaments would require approval from multiple NCAA committees, including the men’s and women’s basketball committees, and no final recommendations or decisions have been made at this time,” the NCAA’s April 28 statement read.
The format change requires approval from the men’s basketball committees, the men’s and women’s basketball oversight committees, the Division I cabinet and the Division I Board of Governors.
ESPN reported on Wednesday that after expansion talks for more than a year, and contracts with the men’s tournament media partners near completion in late April, the final steps are expected to be smooth.
Multiple outlets reported last month that the NCAA plans for 52 teams to slot into the main bracket and the other 24 teams will face off in 12 games on the Tuesday and Wednesday after Selection Sunday, filling out the Round of 64 with the winners. It will no longer be called the “First Four,” with the terminology expected to be “opening round” for the play-ins and “first round” for the Round of 64.
The 12 games are expected to be in Dayton, Ohio, current site of the First Four, and a second site to be determined.
It would mark the first expansion of the tournament since the field moved from 65 to 68 teams with the addition of the First Four games in 2011. The field had previously been 64 or 65 teams since 1985.
The Big 12 and Atlantic Coast Conference were the leading voices behind tournament expansion, Yahoo Sports reported in April. NCAA president Charlie Baker has also voiced his support.
“I said all along that I think there are some very good reasons to expand the tournament,” Baker told ESPN in February. “So, I would like to see it expand.”
–Field Level Media
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