The NCAA will not discuss expanding the men’s and women’s basketball tournaments until this year’s March Madness is over, senior vice president of basketball Dan Gavitt said Thursday.
Gavitt told a group of reporters attending an NCAA event in Indianapolis. There have been rumors over the past few months that the NCAA may expand tournament fields to 72 or 76 players starting in 2027.
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NCAA President Charlie Baker said last year that adding teams could add value to the tournament, and he said the NCAA has had “good conversations” with television partners CBS and Warner Bros., whose deal runs through 2032 and costs about $1.1 billion annually.
In 2011, the NCAA tournament expanded from 64 teams to 68 teams. The change introduces the First Four, a series of pre-tournament games in which the four lowest-seeded major league teams and the four lowest-seeded division champion teams compete for a spot in the traditional 64-team field.
Baker said in November that he supported expanding the tournament, but that the decision rested with the basketball committee.
“I don’t want to get ahead of the basketball committee on this, but I hope we can find a way to make it happen,” he said.
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Baker acknowledged that expanding to a possible 76 teams would cause some logistical issues, such as moving first-round teams around the country on short notice. That doesn’t outweigh the positives – if they can get more money from TV partners to pay for the expanded games.
“One of the benefits of having (units) on both sides is that you give schools and conferences a reason to invest in the sport,” he said. “I think it will make it more likely that schools will put more resources into the game, which is a good thing.”
Last season, for the first time, the women’s basketball team received financial incentives, called “units,” for participating in the NCAA tournament. The formula may be complicated, but the bottom line is that women’s teams will make $113,000 for every game in the NCAA tournament until the Final Four.
The NCAA decided at its January conference to award additional units to women’s teams that win championships and championships. Funds for additional units will be added to the total pool and will not cause the value of each unit to decrease.
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