March Madness is getting bigger, but the heartbeat of the NCAA Division I Men’s and Women’s Basketball Championships is staying the same. 

Beginning in 2027, both tournaments will expand from 68 to 76 teams, creating more championship opportunities for student-athletes, adding more high-stakes games for fans and increasing investment in men’s and women’s basketball programs across Division I. 

The change adds eight teams to each championship field. After the expanded Opening Round, 64 teams will remain, meaning the traditional First Round rhythm — 32 games across two days, followed by the round of 32 — remains intact. 

In practical terms, the Opening Round adds more access without significantly altering the schedule fans have loved for years. 

That means more teams will hear their names called on Selection Sunday. More student-athletes will experience the stage that defines college basketball. More schools will benefit from the national exposure that comes with playing in an NCAA tournament. And fans will get more March Madness without losing the opening-weekend format that has long made the tournament one of the most popular events in sports. 

NCAA Tournament Expansion: What to Know

Question	Answer
When does it start?	The expanded 76-team format begins with the 2027 Division I men’s (March 16) and women’s (March 17) basketball tournaments.
How many teams are being added?	Each tournament will add eight teams, expanding the field from 68 to 76.
What changes?	The First Four becomes the 12-game Opening Round, expanding from two to six games per day over two days.
What stays the same?	After the Opening Round, 64 teams remain. The First Round, Second Round, regionals, Final Four and national championship retain the same format.
Who plays in the Opening Round?	The 12 lowest-seeded automatic qualifiers and the 12 lowest-seeded at-large teams on the committees’ overall seed lists play in the Opening Round.
Why does it matter?	More student-athletes, teams and schools get access to March Madness.

What is Changing in the NCAA Basketball Tournament?

The simplest way to understand the new format: The field grows from 68 teams to 76 teams, and the First Four becomes the larger Opening Round. 

For the men’s tournament, the Opening Round will include 12 games played the Tuesday and Wednesday after Selection Sunday. Instead of two games each night in Dayton, Ohio, the expanded format will feature tripleheaders each day in Dayton and a second host city to be determined.  

After those 12 games, the tournament will move into the 64-team First Round on Thursday and Friday. The rest of the tournament schedule remains unchanged, including the Second Round, regionals and Men’s Final Four. 

For the women’s tournament, the Opening Round also will include 12 games. Six games will be played on both Wednesday and Thursday across 12 of the campus sites designated as First Round and Second Round hosts.  

The games will continue to lead into the 64-team First Round, with First Round and Second Round games played at campus sites. The rest of the women’s championship calendar remains unchanged, including regional play and the Women’s Final Four. 

The Opening Round will include 24 teams in each tournament. Half of those games will feature the 12 lowest-seeded automatic qualifiers on the committee’s overall seed list. The other half will feature the 12 lowest-seeded at-large teams selected to the field. 

That means automatic qualifiers remain a central part of the tournament. Every conference will continue to have a path into March Madness through its automatic bid. Now, more teams will have the opportunity to compete in the championship. 

Because Opening Round teams will generally be paired against teams closest to them on the overall seed list, while respecting bracketing principles, the format is designed to create competitive matchups immediately after Selection Sunday. 

Format	68-team Tournament	76-team Tournament
Total teams	68	76
Opening games	4 First Four games	12 Opening Round games
Teams in opening games	8	24
Teams after opening games	64	64
First Round	64 teams	64 teams
Men's opening schedule	Tuesday-Wednesday	Tuesday-Wednesday
Women's opening schedule	Wednesday-Thursday	Wednesday-Thursday

Why Expand the NCAA Basketball Tournaments?

The primary benefit is straightforward: more championship access for student-athletes. 

The NCAA tournament is the biggest stage in college basketball. Expanding the field gives more teams and more student-athletes the chance to earn that experience, while still preserving the competitive structure that makes March Madness unique. 

For the student-athletes on those additional teams, expansion means more than a line in a bracket. It means Selection Sunday, a national television stage, a championship experience and the chance to turn one game into a lasting March Madness memory. 

The NCAA also will provide additional financial support to participating schools. Because of the tournament expansion, the NCAA will be able to award more than $131 million in new revenue distributions to member schools participating in the basketball tournaments over the remaining six years of the NCAA’s broadcast agreements. After expenses, the rest of the projected surplus will be used to continue investments in the basketball tournaments and enhance the championship experience for student-athletes. 

That investment matters in the current college sports environment. Schools are investing more in student-athlete benefits, scholarships, resources and revenue sharing. Expanding the tournament provides more schools with meaningful financial support and national exposure connected to one of the most revered events in college sports. 

The NCAA also will continue to provide transportation and funding for lodging, meals and other incidentals for teams in the expanded format. 

The expansion comes at a time when interest in college basketball continues to surge. The 2026 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship averaged 10.9 million viewers across TBS, CBS, TNT and truTV, up 7% from 2025. It was the second-most watched tournament since 1994. The men’s national championship game averaged 18.3 million viewers, the most for the title game since 2019, and peaked at 20.4 million viewers. The Men’s Final Four averaged 14.2 million viewers, up 11% from 2024. 

The women’s game also continues to build on record-setting momentum. The 2026 women’s national championship game between UCLA and South Carolina averaged 9.9 million viewers across ABC and ESPN networks, up 15% from the previous year’s title game, and peaked at 10.7 million viewers. The 2026 Women’s Final Four semifinal games averaged 5.2 million viewers, making it the second-most watched national semifinals since ESPN acquired the rights in 1996. 

That momentum extended across digital platforms, too. March Madness men’s basketball social media accounts generated 49 million engagements during the 2026 tournament, while March Madness women’s basketball accounts generated 12.7 million social engagements. 

Now, both tournaments will create more excitement. 

First Four Teams Already Have Made March Madness History

The expanded format also builds on a recent history of teams using the opening stage of the tournament as a launching point. 

In the 15-year history of the First Four on the men’s side, a team advanced to at least the Second Round 14 times. In addition to the two First Four teams to make it to the Final Four — VCU in 2011 and UCLA in 2021 — four schools advanced all the way to the Sweet 16 from the First Four, with Texas being the most recent example in the 2026 tournament. Fairleigh Dickinson became the first automatic-qualifying First Four participant to win a game in the First Round when it stunned No. 1 seed Purdue in 2023, becoming only the second No. 16 seed to beat a No. 1 seed in men’s tournament history.  

The women’s tournament has started to build its own history in the 68-team format, which began in 2022. In 2026, Virginia became the first women’s team to advance from the First Four to the Sweet 16, turning a place among the final teams selected into a second-weekend run. The Cavaliers began their run with a win against Arizona State, then beat Georgia in overtime and won at Iowa in double overtime to extend their tournament stay. 

Those runs show why access matters. A team that begins in the Opening Round is just one hot stretch from reshaping the bracket. 

What is Not Changing?

The expanded format does not overhaul the entire tournament. 

The First Round will still include 64 teams. The round of 32 follows as is. The Sweet 16, Elite Eight, Final Four and national championship game remain unchanged. Selection Sunday remains the starting point for the bracket reveal, and the Division I Men's Basketball Committee and Division I Women's Basketball Committee's will continue to select, seed and bracket the fields.

The regular-season and conference championship schedules also are not expected to change because of the expanded bracket. 

For most teams, the path through the bracket will look the same. Teams that do not play in the Opening Round will still begin in the 64-team First Round. Teams that do play in the Opening Round will have the chance to earn their way into that familiar bracket. 

That distinction is important. The expansion adds more games at the front of the tournament, not extra rounds throughout the bracket. It creates a larger runway into the 64-team field without changing the core structure fans recognize. 

What Will the 76-team Brackets Look Like?

The expanded Opening Round is visually added to the top of the bracket, creating a clear entry point for the additional teams before the traditional field begins. These games feed directly into the standard 64-team layout, so once those results are finalized, the bracket flows exactly as fans expect through each round. The visual below illustrates how the new Opening Round connects into the familiar bracket structure, showing both what’s new and what stays the same

Clearing Up Common NCAA Tournament Expansion Questions

More Basketball, Same March

The NCAA basketball tournaments have always balanced tradition with evolution. 

The bracket has changed before. The audience has grown. The women’s game has reached new heights. In 2026, the men’s and women’s tournaments delivered strong television audiences and combined for more than 61 million social engagements across March Madness basketball accounts. 

Through those changes, the core appeal has stayed the same: one stage, one bracket and one chance for teams to create a moment that lasts. 

The 76-team format builds on that foundation. 

It gives more student-athletes access to the championship experience. It gives more schools the platform and financial support that come with playing in March Madness. It gives fans more win-or-go-home basketball at a time when interest in both tournaments remains high. And it does so while preserving the 64-team First Round, the familiar weekend rhythm and the drama that makes the NCAA tournament one of the defining events on the sports calendar. 

The result is a bigger championship stage, not a different championship identity. 

March Madness is growing again.