Under the proposal, expansion of the 68-team field included both four- and eight-team models.
March Madness branding near the court before a first-round college basketball game between Kent State and Notre Dame in the women's NCAA Tournament Saturday March 23, 2024 in South Bend, Ind. The NCAA has presented a plan to Division I conference commissioners that would expand the lucrative men's and women's basketball tournaments by four or eight teams alongside an option to leave each field at 68 teams, according to a person familiar with the details.
The proposals were outlined to the commissioners this week by NCAA Senior Vice President of Basketball Dan Gavitt and NCAA Vice President for Women’s Basketball Lynn Holzman, the person told The Associated Press on Thursday on condition of anonymity because no official announcements have been made. The news was first reported by Yahoo! Sports. The NCAA would keep its 64-team bracket but would add play-in games involving the 10 through 12 seeds.
The NCAA is currently in the midst of an eight-year extension of its TV deal for the men’s tournament worth $8.8 billion that runs through 2032. That would not be expected to change if a handful of teams are added.More games would provide a small boost through ticket sales and merchandise, but the pool of money the NCAA uses to pay out conferences and member schools would essentially stay the same.
Expansion would also mean the men’s tournament would have to find an additional site besides Dayton for its First Four games. The Ohio city already has games on Tuesday and Wednesday and wouldn’t be able to host additional play-in games ahead of the tourney’s traditional first-round opening on Thursday. Women’s play-in games are at the same campus sites as the first two rounds of the tournament.
Expansion is largely backed by larger conferences and smaller leagues do not want to lose the automatic bids that come with a conference tournament championship or face the prospect of always being slotted for the play-in games.The earliest the NCAA Tournament could expand would be the 2025-26 season, the person told AP. The NCAA basketball oversight committee meets next week and the tournament selection committee has a meeting next month.
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