Ncaa To Expand March Madness Fields To 76 Teams

The NCAA announced Thursday that it will grow its 2 March Madness tournaments by 8 teams each adjacent season, a long-expected move that will driblet much games into nan first week of nan highly celebrated and lucrative showcase without substantially changing its wide form.

The new, 76-team brackets will jam 8 other games — for a full of 12 involving 24 teams — into nan beforehand half of nan first week of nan men’s and nan women’s tournaments. It will move what’s now known arsenic nan First Four into a bigger matter that will now beryllium called nan “March Madness Opening Round.”

The 12 winners will move into nan main 64-team bracket that will begin, arsenic usual, connected Thursday for nan men and Friday for nan women.

It is nan first description of nan tournaments successful 15 years, erstwhile they were bumped to 68 teams each.

The NCAA said it will administer much than $131 cardinal successful caller gross to schools that make nan tournament. That money will travel via expanded TV advertizing opportunities for alcohol, nan likes of which were antecedently restricted. It said nan worth of nan authorities statement will summation $50 cardinal each twelvemonth connected mean complete nan people of nan six years.

Most of nan 8 caller slots are expected to spell to teams from nan powerfulness conferences that were already commanding nan lion’s stock of entries successful nan bracket. Two years ago, nan Southeastern Conference placed a grounds 14 teams successful nan men’s bracket. Last season, nan Big Ten had nine.

Keith Gill, nan president of nan Division I men’s hoops committee, called nan description “a bully measurement to create immoderate entree but make judge we person nan bracket we each emotion erstwhile we commencement Thursday astatine noon.”

The move is simply a merchandise of nan times, which includes monolithic description — nan Atlantic Coast Conference, for instance, has grown from 9 to 17 teams since 1996 — and nan reality that mid-major schools pinch top-notch players will often spot them plucked distant by programs pinch bigger budgets and nan expertise to salary them done gross sharing.

Cinderella? There will still beryllium room for those stirring runs successful nan tournaments, though not a azygous mid-major precocious past nan first play of either tourney nan past 2 seasons.

This is hardly a interest of nan decision-makers anymore, who will constituent to TV ratings that traditionally spell retired fans’ penchant for nan likes of Duke and North Carolina complete St. Peter’s and San Diego State, particularly erstwhile nan Sweet 16 starts.

What matters much to nan biggest schools is that their teams person a chance to compete successful what remains nan champion postseason successful assemblage sports and that they aren’t iced retired by little convention champions who gain automatic bids.

“You’ve sewage immoderate really, really bully teams who are going to extremity up successful that 9, 10, 11 (seed) class that I deliberation should beryllium moved into the” 64-team bracket, SEC commissioner Greg Sankey said past twelvemonth successful discussing really he favored description .

Also, nan money. The caller brew and vino money will adhd to what nan NCAA tin administer successful “units” that are earned for placing teams successful nan bracket and past for each information those teams advance. Last year, that amounted to astir $350,000 per portion for nan men’s tournament. The Big Ten made astir $70 cardinal from some tournaments, won by convention members Michigan (men) and UCLA (women).

Leaders successful nan SEC, Big Ten, Big 12 and ACC person each acknowledged that smaller programs thief make March Madness what it is, each nan while steadily expanding their ain powerfulness successful NCAA decision-making. That brings pinch it nan tacit threat of fracturing nan azygous point nan NCAA does champion — nan hoops tournament.

This move mightiness forestall that. What it isn’t expected to do is drastically alteration nan TV woody beyond nan advertising.

The existent woody for nan men’s tourney is worthy $8.8 cardinal and runs done 2032. Adding a fewer other games betwixt mid-level Power Four teams connected Tuesday and Wednesday won’t alteration that much.

One of logic this took arsenic agelong arsenic it did was nan NCAA negotiations pinch CBS and TNT, which themselves person been successful negotiations complete their ain ownership.

The much drastic action of expanding nan tourney to 96 teams aliases beyond would impact adding an other week to a tourney that has thrived successful portion because of nan symmetry of a six-round bracket that gets whittled down complete 3 weeks.

That basal ammunition began successful 1985, pinch only flimsy tweaks, nan latest of which came successful 2011 erstwhile it was upped to 68.