March Madness Expansion Is Close, but Is It a Good Idea?

On Thursday morning, NCAA Commissioner Charlie Baker made an eye-opening statement about the future of March Madness.

According to Baker, talks have already begun internally on the potential expansion of the NCAA Tournament.

“Our goal here is to try to either get to yes or no sometime in the next few months, because there’s a lot of logistical work that would be associated with doing this, if we were to go down this road,” said Baker at the Big 12 spring meetings on Thursday.

Baker himself confirmed he is in favor of expanding the tournament. “That would be the goal—to try and do this for next year, which is why the window to actually negotiate it will probably end sometime early summer,” he said. This means we could potentially see a 72, or even 76, team tournament as early as this upcoming season. Baker later mentioned that they wouldn’t consider going past 76.

So what does this mean? Is this a good change for College Basketball, or is it the NCAA doing what they do best: prioritizing financial gain at the expense of the overall product?

If It’s Not Broke, Why Fix It?

Regardless of whether you follow College Basketball from the first tip in November all the way to the first weekend in April or just tune in when March Madness comes, there’s one thing everyone can agree on: March Madness, the way it is right now, is awesome.

From the upsets, the Cinderellas, the buzzer-beaters, to the unique storylines that unfold every season, there’s a reason it’s one of the most-watched sporting events in the U.S. every year.

So why change things up? It would be one thing if ratings were on a steady decline, but that’s not the case. In fact, the 2025 March Madness averaged 10.2 million viewers per game, a 3% increase from 2024. The National Championship game alone saw a 22% increase from the following year. From a viewership standpoint, March Madness is performing at its best.

So if it’s not a ratings issue, is it an on-court issue? Should more teams be getting the chance to compete for the National Championship? This is where the biggest argument for expansion seems to come from. Adding more teams to the tournament allows more programs and conferences the opportunity to compete and, likely more importantly, profit.

Money Talks

One thing the “casual” college basketball fan may not be aware of is the money side of the tournament. Obviously, when programs, especially small mid-majors, make the tournament, it’s a chance for them to play in the national spotlight— to get more eyes on the university.

But it’s more than that. Much more.

When a team makes the NCAA Tournament, their conference receives a “unit” from the NCAA. Each time that team wins a game in the tournament, their conference receives an additional unit. Each unit is worth approximately $2 million. Last season, for instance, the SEC had 14 teams make March Madness. That means before any games were played, the SEC made 14 units, or $28 million.

Based on this system, it’s clear conferences want more teams to represent their league in the big dance. More teams mean more money. By expanding the field, it allows potentially four to eight additional teams to receive and earn units for their conference. But is adding more teams necessarily a good thing for the tournament as a whole?

Watering Down the Field

If the NCAA decides to add more teams to the tournament, it would mean expanding the number of “at-large” bids awarded. With the current format of 68 teams, the last four at-large bids are typically anywhere from the 10 to 12 seed line. Most commonly, they are 11 seeds.

Historically, how do 11 seeds fare in the tournament? Not great. Since 1985, 11 seeds have been 105-160. Just five times has an 11 seed reached the Final Four. Never have they won a championship. More often than not, they are losing in the first round. So why add more of these teams?

What adding more teams also does is reduce the difficulty of making March Madness.

One of the great things about the tournament is that it’s tough to make it. Less than 20% of all Division 1 teams make it in a given year. That means the margin for error, especially for mid-major schools, is extremely thin. But that’s what makes the tournament so special. Programs really have to earn their way into the madness. Spots aren’t just handed out.

While there are teams that miss out on the tournament every year that feel they should have made it, they also know they could have done more during the season to make it. By expanding the field, teams that we normally would say didn’t deserve a spot, all of a sudden find themselves dancing. The bar would just get lower.

The other question is, when does it stop? It seems like every sport, college and professional, is falling in favor of expanding their playoff format. Sure, the NCAA says they aren’t considering expanding past 76 teams, but what’s stopping them? Who’s to say in five years we’re not having this discussion all over again, except now expanding from 76 to 88? It’s a dangerous game.

To the NCAA, March Madness is awesome. It has been since the tournament expanded to a 64-team field in 1985. Don’t let money get in the way of potentially ruining one of the best sporting events of the year.