Goodbye, Cinderella.
On Tuesday, ESPN college sports insider Pete Thamel and others reported that the NCAA is set to expand the men’s and women’s NCAA Tournaments to 76 teams for the upcoming 2026-27 season.
“The expansion,” Thamel writes, “which has been discussed for well over a year, is on track to be formalized in the upcoming weeks and would begin this coming season.”
The pending change is another step at marginalizing mid-majors, who will once again be forced to compete for a smaller portion of the pie.
NCAA Tournament expansion will further divide sport from the haves and have-nots
CBS Sports college basketball reporter Matt Norlander shared further details about the expansion, revealing 24 teams — instead of eight — will play on the first Tuesday and Wednesday of March Madness, turning the First Four into the First 12. Norlander notes the 24 teams will be a split of programs that earned automatic bids by winning their conferences and at-large representatives.
“All 16-seeds and half the 15s will be slotted into the Tuesday/Wednesday of the opening round,” Norlander wrote on social media, adding, “The other half will be a mix depending on team quality.”
