Gonzaga has appeared in each of the last 26 NCAA Tournaments, and during that span, college basketball’s uniquely crafted postseason has altered its format only a couple of times.
The next major change to March Madness could be coming much sooner than previously anticipated. As power conference leaders debate the format of the next College Football Playoff, it appears NCAA Tournament expansion is on the table for as early as 2026, according to a report from Front Office Sports.
On Thursday, NCAA president Charlie Baker revealed that discussions with NCAA Tournament media-rights holders CBS and Warner Bros. Discovery about expanding the men’s tournament are underway.
“That would be the goal — to try and do this for next year, which is why the window to actually negotiate it will probably end sometime early summer,” Baker said. “We’ve been talking about 72 and 76 [teams].”
Baker added the NCAA has no intention of changing the 31 automatic qualifiers, while also admitting there are teams deserving of a bid that end up getting left out of the 68-team field.
“So, the point behind going from 68 to 72 or 76 is to basically give some of those schools that probably were among the best teams in the country a way into the tournament,” Baker said.
Baker’s comments contradict those made by NCAA senior vice president of basketball Dan Gavitt, who said two months ago that a decision on the future of the NCAA Tournament was unlikely to come soon. Along with financial implications, there are scheduling issues to consider as well — CBS and ESPN probably have no intentions of moving The Masters off the first week of April any time soon, which limits the wiggle room the NCAA has to expand its one-of-a-kind tournament.
It’s debatable whether expansion would even increase the NCAA Tournament’s monetary value. Even so, a few prominent figures in college athletics have voiced their support for adding more postseason games. Kansas men’s basketball coach Bill Self recently said he was in favor of expanding the field. Earlier this year, Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark advocated for expansion under the condition that CBS and Warner Bros. Discovery committed to paying more for their media rights.
The NCAA Tournament underwent several transformations in its early history before settling on the modern format of a 64-team tournament in 1985. After the Mountain West joined the Division I ranks in 2001 and received an automatic bid, a single game was added prior to the first round to account for a 65-team field. The tournament jumped to 68 participants in 2011 to include the First Four round.
MORE GONZAGA NEWS & ANALYSIS
This post was originally published on this site be sure to check out more of their content.
