March Madness Expanding To 76 Teams For Men's And Women's Basketball

by Staff Reporter

May 7, 20260 Comments

The men's and women's NCAA basketball tournaments are expanding to 76 teams, the NCAA announced Thursday.

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The fields of the Division I Men's and Women's Basketball Championships will increase from 68 teams to 76 starting in 2027, creating additional championship participation opportunities for student-athletes and more exciting matchups for fans. The NCAA also will provide additional financial support to participating schools, increasing the dollars available to both basketball programs and, through revenue-sharing, basketball student-athletes.

The NCAA will be able to award more than $131 million in new revenue distributions to member schools participating in the basketball tournaments over the remaining six years of the NCAA's broadcast agreements. After accounting for expenses, the projected surplus will primarily be used to continue investing in the basketball tournaments and enhancing the NCAA championship experience for all student-athletes. As part of the agreements the NCAA will open up new, previously restricted product categories for the NCAA Corporate Champions and Partners Program, including beer, wine, spirits, and hard seltzer, and allows for expanded in-game advertising opportunities during the linear and streaming coverage of the tournaments. The value of the rights agreement will increase $50 million each year on average over the course of the six years.

The expansion and financial increase were approved by the Division I Men's and Women's Basketball Committees, the Division I Men's and Women's Basketball Oversight Committees, the Division I Finance Committee, the Division I Board of Directors and the NCAA Board of Governors.

"Expanding the Division I Men's and Women's Basketball Championships is the right decision for the student-athletes and programs that will now have access to the greatest events in college sports," said Board of Directors Chair Tim Sands, president at Virginia Tech. "As NCAA leaders, we are especially excited to provide additional, highly competitive games for fans who look forward to March Madness every year."

"Providing additional access to the NCAA Men's and Women's Basketball Championships for Division I programs will be incredibly meaningful, especially to the student-athletes of the eight additional men's and women's programs that receive these coveted bids," said NCAA Board of Governors Chair Jim Phillips, commissioner of the Atlantic Coast Conference. "The leadership by President Charlie Baker as well as Dan Gavitt, Lynn Holzman and JoAn Scott has been outstanding. We also appreciate the support of our broadcast partners and corporate champions and partners in making this a reality."

The additional bids mean 21% of teams have a spot in the NCAA's basketball postseason. Before expansion, championship access for basketball teams was at 18%, the lowest among major team sports.