The NCAA Tournament is remaining at 68 teams — for now.
Both the NCAA Division I men’s and women’s basketball committees met this week to discuss potentially expanding the NCAA Tournament field beyond its current 68-team format. Remaining at 68 or expanding to either 72 or 76 teams before 2026 or 2027 was on the table, but ultimately nothing was decided, NCAA senior vice president of basketball Dan Gavitt said Thursday.
“The NCAA Division I Men’s and Women’s Basketball Committees met this week, with the men’s meeting taking place in Savannah and the women’s meeting in Philadelphia,” Gavitt said in a statement. “The topic of expanding the field for each championship was discussed at length but no decision or recommendation was made. The still viable outcomes include the tournaments remaining at 68 teams or expanding the fields to either 72 or 76 teams in advance of the 2026 or 2027 championships.”
Expanding the tournaments has been a hot-button topic for the past several years. The NCAA did increase the field from 64 to 68 teams back in 2011 with the creation of the First Four. The women’s tournament similarly expanded to 68 teams in 2022.
Here’s the math and data that prove why the NCAA Tournament doesn’t need to expand
Matt Norlander
Further tournament expansion has been subject to much debate, with public sentiment seeming to largely oppose the idea. Nonetheless, NCAA and conference leaders have continued to discuss the possibility with media partners. Even NCAA president Charlie Baker said he “sees value” in an expanded field.
While there is no official deadline for the committees to make a decision, Baker told Yahoo Sports last month that a decision on whether or not to expand the tournaments for 2026 needs to be made by the middle of August.
Gavitt told CBS Sports in February that there are many financial factors at play, including the revenue distributed to the participating schools. The more teams added to the tournament, the less money there is to share per school.
“Expansion, even in a modest level, is complex, more complex, I think, than has been recognized and reported, because it is expensive,” Gavitt said. “It’s expensive because of additional team travel, per diem, game operations, but also the basketball performance funds, the units that are earned throughout the men’s and women’s basketball championships.”
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