NCAA basketball tournament reportedly expanding to 76 teams: What to know
March Madness is about to be more crazy.
NCAA basketball tournament reportedly expanding to 76 teams: What to know originally appeared on The Sporting News . Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here . Is NCAA Tournament expansion a forgone conclusion?
Yes, at least according to the major figureheads involved in the process. A report by Yahoo Sports' Ross Dellenger on Thursday went into great detail about how both the men's and women's NCAA basketball tournaments will be growing by eight to 76 teams very soon. "Soon after the completion of this year’s NCAA tournament, NCAA leadership and members of the association’s basketball committees — both the selection and oversight groups — are expected to finalize an expansion of the men’s and women’s tournaments to 76 teams," Dellenger wrote.
"Barring something unforeseen, “it will happen,” says one high-placed source. " One of the biggest pieces to all of this is added TV revenue from additional games. Eight games would be added to the current “First Four” played over Tuesday and Wednesday of the first week of the event.
This means 24 teams playing in 12 games over the two days at two sites (Dayton and TBD). The NCAA currently has Warner Bros. Discovery and CBS as TV partners and that's not expected to change.