Officials from the NCAA presented Division I conference commissioners with multiple models related to potential expansions of the March Madness tournament, with the proposed changes reportedly including the potential for eight additional teams to be added to the field.
NCAA’s vice president for the men’s basketball championship, Dan Gavitt, brought forward the propositions at the commissioners’ annual summer meeting on Wednesday. Any changes adopted would not be implemented until the 2025-2026 season, per Yahoo Sports.
Of the two models detailed in the report by Yahoo Sports, one included four additional teams being added to the tournament, while the other proposed adding eight teams to the “Big Dance,” with the teams being added in the at-large portion of the tournament to keep the majority of automatic qualifiers intact.
Many in the Power 5 conferences see these potential changes as inevitable, as an additional First Four site would be added to the mix, per Yahoo Sports.
Although the NCAA has yet to officially acknowledge the potential for expansion, many college coaches and commissioners have already voiced their support for allowing more teams to compete at the highest level.
North Carolina State head coach Kevin Keatts, who led the Wolfpack to a Final Four appearance in the most recent tournament, told the Associated Press in March that the NCAA has made many improvements in the past, and the next step would be increasing the number of teams in the tournament.
“And I don’t have a number. I don’t know what that should be. But I do think we should give more schools opportunities to be able to get in the tournament,” he said.
Similarly, Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark said in May that the NCAA tournament was “one of the greatest spectacles in sports,” arguing that a change could bring incredible rewards to those involved.
“It captivates hardcore fans and casual fans for all the right reasons, and you don’t want to mess with something that’s great, but if there are chances and opportunities to modify a little bit, to maybe provide more access, to amplify the experience, to look at it slightly differently, we owe it to ourselves to do that. I’m a firm believer that from time to time, you’ve got to put things through an audit. As great as they might look, it makes sense to do that and go through that exercise,” he added, per CBS Sports.
While many within the NCAA have expressed support for the changes, there remain various questions that would have to be answered before the proposals could be implemented.
The biggest of these questions is whether small conference schools will be forced into play-in games despite receiving an automatic bid to the Big Dance for winning their conference tournament, which would be met with backlash by those within the conferences.
Additionally, questions have now arisen regarding the potential revenue from the additional games.
Those with knowledge about the contract signed by CBS and Turner with the NCAA claim that the networks are not required to increase the prices that were initially agreed upon, according to Yahoo Sports.
As a result, it remains unclear whether the NCAA would even generate additional revenue from adding more games to the schedule.
The future of the NCAA tournament looks promising, with many sides lobbying for additional coverage, but getting approval from commissioners is just the first step in a lengthy process to make meaningful changes.
