NCAA Approves Expansion of Men's and Women's Basketball Tournaments to 76 Teams

The NCAA men's and women's basketball tournaments will expand to 76 teams after committee members voted to approve the change Thursday.

The expansion, a point of debate among college basketball fans over the past year, cleared multiple review stages before final approval.

"The expanded bracket format will not impact regular season or conference championship schedules," the NCAA said in a release.

Revenue from television contracts and sponsorships drove the decision. The new agreement opens sponsorships for beer, wine, spirits and hard seltzer.

NCAA officials met with media partners last month to discuss revenue from adding 12 teams. Turner Sports gains additional games to broadcast each year.

In the new format, the First Four becomes the opening round with 24 teams in 12 games over two days. Half the matchups occur in Dayton, Ohio; the rest go to a site to be named.

The opening round mixes at-large teams and automatic qualifiers. Every 16-seed and half the 15-seeds play there, along with 11-seeds, 12-seeds and possibly 13-seeds. Winners advance to the main tournament's first games Thursday and Friday.

The change has sparked talk on social media and in athletic departments.

Rising costs on college campuses also factored into the 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," the organization said.

The NCAA expects $300 million more from media rights over six years.

"Expanding the Division I Men's and Women's Basketball Championships is the right decision for the student-athletes and programs that will now have access to the greatest events in college sports," said Board of Directors Chair Tim Sands, president at Virginia Tech.

Attention now turns to future TV contract talks, which may discuss further expansion.