NCAA Advances DI Basketball Expansion to 76 Teams in 2027

The NCAA is advancing plans to expand its men's and women's Division I basketball tournaments from 68 to 76 teams starting with the 2027 season, adding eight at-large bids while preserving all 32 automatic conference qualifiers.

The new format calls for 52 teams to receive direct entry into the main bracket, which opens Thursday with the round of 64. The remaining 24 teams, a combination of lower-seeded automatic qualifiers and additional at-large selections, would compete in an expanded opening round of 12 games played over Tuesday and Wednesday at two sites following Selection Sunday. The 12 winners would advance to complete the 64-team single-elimination bracket. This structure replaces the current First Four play-in games, primarily held in Dayton, Ohio, and introduces new terminology: "opening round" for the preliminary games and "first round" for the round of 64.

Sources familiar with the discussions described the remaining approvals as formalities. The process requires sign-off from the men's and women's basketball committees, oversight committees, Division I Cabinet and Division I Board of Governors, with a mid-May timeline targeted for formalization. NCAA officials...