NCAA Expands Men's and Women's March Madness to 76 Teams Starting in 2027

The NCAA will expand the Division I men’s and women’s basketball tournaments from 68 teams to 76 teams beginning in 2027, a change that adds eight bids to each field and reshapes the opening days of March Madness.

In a release Thursday, the NCAA said the current “First Four” format will be replaced by a 12-game “March Madness Opening Round” in each tournament. The move is the next major bracket expansion for both championships: the men’s tournament has been at 68 teams since 2011, while the women’s tournament grew from 64 to 68 teams in 2022.

The new Opening Round will include 24 teams. The 12 lowest-seeded automatic qualifiers, as determined by the selection committees, will play in six games, while the 12 lowest-seeded at-large teams will play in the other six. The NCAA said the committees will create an overall seed list for all 76 teams and match teams against the closest opponent on that list, while keeping existing bracketing principles and allowing exceptions to avoid rematches or account for geography.

For the men, the tournament will still start on the Tuesday after Selection Sunday — March 16 in 2027. But instead of two games each day in Dayton, Ohio, there will be three games each day in Dayton and three games each day in a second city that has not yet been named, creating the 12 men’s Opening Round games. For the women, the 2027 Opening Round will be held March 17-18 on the campuses of 12 of the top 16 seeds selected to host. The round of 64 and all later rounds in both tournaments will remain on the existing calendar.

The NCAA said the expansion means 21% of Division I teams will reach the NCAA postseason, up from 18% under the 68-team format. In practical terms, that means eight additional bids in each bracket, which the NCAA framed as new at-large opportunities and broader access to the sport’s highest-profile event.

The association also tied expansion directly to new money for schools and athletes. The NCAA said it projects more than $131 million in new revenue distributions to participating schools over the remaining six years of its broadcast agreements, and said the value of those rights agreements will increase by about $50 million per year on average over that period. It also will add 16 basketball fund units for the men’s tournament and 16 for the women’s tournament. Those units are the mechanism through which conferences and schools receive NCAA tournament-related payouts over multiple years. The NCAA said the added money will go to basketball programs and, because its rules now allow schools to share revenue directly with student-athletes, could also reach players through school revenue-sharing arrangements.

As part of the agreements supporting expansion, the NCAA said it will open previously restricted sponsor categories for Corporate Champions and Partners, including beer, wine, spirits and hard seltzer, and allow expanded in-game advertising in linear and streaming coverage. All 75 men’s tournament games will air across TBS, CBS, TNT and truTV, while every women’s tournament game will air on ESPN networks. The expansion was approved through NCAA governance, including the Division I Board of Directors and the NCAA Board of Governors.

Jim Phillips, chair of the NCAA Board of Governors and the ACC commissioner, said in the release: “Providing additional access to the NCAA Men's and Women's Basketball Championships for Division I programs will be incredibly meaningful, especially to the student-athletes of the eight additional men's and women's programs that receive these coveted bids. The leadership by President Charlie Baker as well as Dan Gavitt, Lynn Holzman and JoAn Scott has been outstanding. We also appreciate the support of our broadcast partners and corporate champions and partners in making this a reality.”

Tim Sands, chair of the NCAA Division I Board of Directors and president of Virginia Tech, said in the release: “Expanding the Division I Men's and Women's Basketball Championships is the right decision for the student-athletes and programs that will now have access to the greatest events in college sports. As NCAA leaders, we are especially excited to provide additional, highly competitive games for fans who look forward to March Madness every year.”