The NCAA believes bigger is better when it comes to March Madness. The organization will expand both the men’s and women’s college basketball tournaments to include 76 teams, according to Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger.
Both the NCAA men’s and women’s basketball selection committees approved the move and voted on Thursday morning to expand. The motion was then ratified by the basketball oversight committees and the DI Board of Directors and Board of Governors.
Starting in 2027, there will be eight additional at-large teams, per the NCAA, which laid out how the 76-team tournament will be structured. The expansion will add eight games to the “First Four” round, with 24 teams playing 12 games over two days.
The announcement ends months of reports suggesting tournament expansion was on the horizon. In early April, a source told Dellenger tournament expansion “will happen” during the offseason. On Thursday, that proved to be true.
The move received support from the Big 12, ACC and NCAA president Charlie Baker, who said too many good teams were being excluded. “There are every year some really good teams that don’t get to the tournament for a bunch of reasons,” Baker said last fall.
With the myriad committee approvals on Thursday, it appears the tournaments will have a new look in the future.