NCAA tournament expansion is here.
The NCAA has initiated the final steps to expand both the men’s and women’s NCAA tournaments to 76 teams as soon as next season, according to ESPN’s Pete Thamel. Expansion is on track to be formalized in the coming weeks, though the remaining steps needed are “just formalities.”
While the field is expanding, the traditional 64-team bracket will remain in place. The expansion in the men’s tournament will include eight additional at-large bids. The “First Four” round will then expand to 12 games, played by 24 teams, at two different sites. One site will remain in Dayton, Ohio, while the other will be at a to-be-determined site west of the Eastern time zone.
Then, the normal 64-team bracket will start on Thursday as normal.
Specifics on how the women’s NCAA tournament will expand are not yet known. An official announcement, according to Thamel, is expected in mid-May.
The men’s NCAA tournament last expanded back in 2011 to include the “First Four” round, which brought the field from 64 to 68. The women’s side then followed suit with that format in 2021. That was the most notable expansion in the tournament since it doubled in size from 32 in 1985.
This latest expansion is somethign that has been floated for years. The NCAA basketball selection committees met last summer and learned that expansion was on track to start during the 2026-27 season. NCAA president Charlie Baker said in February that expansion was still the plan eventually, too, so Tuesday’s news isn’t a complete surprise.
This post will be updated with more information shortly.
