NCAA Tournament taking ‘final steps’ towards expansion to 76 teams
Consider the bracket officially busted. The almighty NCAA is reportedly in the “final steps” of expanding the NCAA Tournament to 76 teams on both the men’s and women’s sides, according to ESPN’s Pete Thamel. The move is expected to be formalized in the coming weeks and the expanded tournaments will begin for the 2026-27 season.
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Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports Consider the bracket officially busted. The almighty NCAA is reportedly in the “final steps” of expanding the NCAA Tournament to 76 teams on both the men’s and women’s sides, according to ESPN’s Pete Thamel . The move is expected to be formalized in the coming weeks and the expanded tournaments will begin for the 2026-27 season.
Thamel reports, “NCAA officials met with the media partners for the men’s tournament last week,” and, “The sides are in the final steps of the media contracts … but they have not been signed. ” ESPN owns exclusive rights to the women’s tournament, while CBS Sports and TNT Sports share the men’s tournament. Despite more games being added, “the expansion isn’t expected to be a financial windfall.
” At the end of the day, the NCAA is adding eight play-in games on the Tuesday and Wednesday before the tournament begins on Thursday. Those play-in games are, naturally, among the least-valuable inventory of any NCAA Tournament games, meaning any additional revenue generated from them will be incremental at best. Prior reports indicate that ESPN will not pay any additional rights fees for expansion to the women’s tournament, while CBS Sports and TNT Sports are expected to pay a modest increase.