Wilner – NCAA Tournaments expanding to 76 teams: The outcome nobody wanted becomes reality (welcome to college sports)

The expected expansion of the NCAA Men’s and Women’s Tournaments from 68 to 76 teams will become reality next season, according to published reports Tuesday afternoon.

Note the date: April 28.

During a forum on intercollegiate athletics in Las Vegas in December, NCAA president Charlie Baker told reporters that any decision on expanding March Madness in time for the 2026-27 school year would need to be made this spring.

“We have a window,” Baker said, “and our window probably gets us to about April.”

He got it right with two days to spare.

(An official announcement is expected in May, following the completion of media contracts and approval by NCAA executives.)

The move marks the most significant expansion of the cherished event since the 64-team field was created in 1985. The subsequent four decades of bracket perfection was interrupted just once, with the move to 68 teams and creation of the First Four games, in 2011.

But this step, powered by twin desires for cash and job security within the upper levels of college sports, will create vastly more disruption.

To accommodate eight new teams while preserving the Round-of-64 structure, the NCAA will increase the First Four to the First 12, except it won’t be called that. It will be referred to simply as the opening round, with six games on Tuesday and six on Wednesday.

Dayton will host one set of six games; an undetermined western site will host the other six.

The 12-game opening round will feature a mix of teams in the NCAA food chain:

— Half will be the champions from one-bid leagues that are awarded No. 15 and 16 seeds.

— The other half will be at-large teams that typically receive No. 10, 11 and 12 seeds.

The 12 winners (six of them conference champs, six of them at-large teams) will advance to face 52 teams waiting in the main bracket.

The makeup of the eight new participants is also clear: They will be at-large teams that finish near the bottom of the standings in the power conferences.

We know this because the two teams that just missed the cut for the 68-team field last month were 15-loss Oklahoma and 16-loss Auburn.

Yes, by all means: Please give us more Oklahomas and Auburns. How has March Madness survived without them all these years?

In case you’re wondering, the expansion fuel comes from the self-serving pump: Conference commissioners, head coaches, athletic directors and university presidents — not all of them, but many — who are seeking job security, performance bonuses, satisfied donors or some combination therein.

They are forcing expansion on the viewing public, because there’s zero clamoring for 76 from the fans.

Nor is there a compelling competitive case for expansion — not when the Sooners and Tigers, who finished 7-11 in the SEC, are the first teams below the cut line.

On this matter, we are reminded of recent comments from an executive outside college sports that apply directly to college sports.

During a news conference earlier this year, Brian Rolapp, the new CEO of the PGA Tour — and former NFL executive vice president/media — was outlining his strategy for implementing changes to the tour’s competitive model.

“The sports business is not that hard,” Rolapp said. “Just think like a fan and 9.5 times out of 10 that’s probably the right answer.”

You know which industry doesn’t think like a fan?

The same industry that put UCLA and Rutgers in the same conference.

The same industry that allows free agency (transfers) during the College Football Playoff.

The same industry that raises ticket prices in order to cover exorbitant spending within bloated athletic departments.

The same industry that is expanding March Madness to 76 teams and is seriously considering a 24-team format for the CFP.

Don’t overlook the timing of tournament expansion news. It came less than one week after the CFP management committee met for two days outside Dallas and considered a jaw-dropping change of its own.

Just two years into the 12-team playoff, conference commissioners, led by the Big Ten’s Tony Petitti, are discussing whether to double the size of the field.

Not because the fans want a 24-team playoff or because the 12-team event has been a flop — quite the contrary, in fact — but because conference executives and campus officials want … wait for it … more money and enhanced job security.

Unlike March Madness, the CFP won’t expand in time for the 2026-27 academic year. Any move to 16 teams (reasonable) or 24 teams (absurd) is at least two seasons away. There are too many issues to resolve, including the fate of the conference championship games.

But just as March Madness was destined for 76, so, too, will the CFP expand.

Those are the inevitable results when a leaderless governance structure meets an industry that cannot control its expenses.

So enjoy watching a 15-loss team from the SEC play a 16-loss team from the Big Ten in the opening round next March.

It’s the outcome nobody wanted but everyone is forced to endure.

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