The NCAA Tournament is expanding. Not this season. But next season, in 2026-27, the field is expected to grow to 76 teams, according to multiple reports.
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Talks about expansion have been going on for more than three years, and after the NCAA delayed changes for 2025-26, this was inevitable. The only question was how big it would get.
Ross Dellenger of Yahoo Sports reports that the tournament will keep its current structure, with the "First Four" in Dayton, Ohio. But instead of four play-in games, there will be 12. That means 24 teams will battle for a spot in the "main" 64-team field over two days.
OutKick's Trey Wallace made it clear how he feels about the plan. "Just what college basketball needs, right? More teams — many of which aren't worthy of being in the marquee postseason — getting bids because television networks and the NCAA can't resist another money grab," Wallace wrote.
Executives are inching closer to an agreement to expand the NCAA tournament to 76 teams with a 12-game “opening round” played at two sites starting in 2026-27.
If it gets finalized, how will it work?
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— Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger) October 2, 2025
He pointed out that the move is designed to benefit CBS and the NCAA, bringing in more TV revenue, ticket sales, and media rights cash. Lower-seeded automatic qualifiers will still face off against at-large teams in this expanded opening round, though the exact format is still being finalized.
"Can we agree that the current format is enough for college basketball?" Wallace wrote. "Sometimes, the product is perfectly fine with how it is."
He compared the decision to the wave of expansion across college sports, joking that at this rate we might as well expect a 26-team football playoff within a decade.
The NCAA's most lucrative event is about to get even bigger. Whether that's good for the sport is another question entirely.
