It looks like college football won’t be the only collegiate sport to expand.
According to CBS’s Matt Norlander, the NCAA has voted to officially expand the men’s and women’s basketball tournaments to 76 teams.
The NCAA cleared the deal with its various media partners after already approving the plan through its lower committees.
“With the new expansion, the additional eight teams would be added to the current ‘First Four’ play-in round, currently held on Tuesday and Wednesday,” On3 reports. “The newly expanded play-in round would then feature 24 teams playing 12 games over two days before the winners join the other 52 teams already in the traditional first-round field that initial weekend.”
Norlander reports that, “All 16 seeds and half of the 15 seeds will make up half of the initial 24-team field. The final 12 teams will be a mixture of 11-, 12- and possibly 13-seeds.”
As in the debate surrounding College Football Playoff (CFP) expansion, the argument oscillates between administrators and media partners who see dollar signs in the addition of more teams, and fans who don’t want to see the regular season of their respective sports completely devalued.
One such critic of expanding beyond the current field of 68 is Fox Sports 1 radio host Colin Cowherd.
“God, do I hate the idea of the NCAA Tournament expanding to 76 teams. Yuck,” he said. “March Madness, we already have it dialed in. I’m not paralyzed by change, but I’m also selective. March Madness is one of the few things in sports that feels right. Sudden death, survive and advance. The big dogs usually win, but there’s just enough chaos to keep you hooked. Seventy-six teams feels like one giant participation ribbon, and here’s the irony: College basketball is actually fixing itself (already).”