NCAA Executive Says Basketball Tournament Expansion Is on Hold Through March Madness

NCAA president Charlie Baker wants to expand March Madness, adding four or eight teams to the men’s and women’s NCAA basketball tournaments, which currently feature 68 programs each. Expansion could come in time for the 2027 NCAA tournaments, but no decisions will be made until “One Shining Moment” plays and this year’s tournaments come to a close.

Hours after Baker repeated that he would like to see the tournaments expand and that “We’re still talking about it,” per ESPN’s Jeff Borzello, NCAA vice president of basketball Dan Gavitt confirmed that nothing will change until after this year’s tournaments, which tip off in just under a month.

The announcement puts an expansion decision on hold until mid-April at the earliest. The women’s tournament will come to an end on Sunday, April 5 with the national championship game in Phoenix. The men’s tournament wraps up the next day in Indianapolis.

Breaking: Discussions of 2027 NCAA Tournament expansion and beyond is on hold, Dan Gavitt just told the media here in Indy.

This means we will not get ANY news about NCAAT expansion before mid-April.

Expansion could still happen in 2027, but it's no guarantee at this stage.
— Matt Norlander (@MattNorlander) February 19, 2026

Baker spoke to Sports Illustrated’s Pat Forde earlier this month, and addressed the unpopularity of the idea to move beyond 68 teams, which he said was also the case in previous rounds of tournament expansion dating back to his playing days at Harvard.

“Everyone thought the world was going to come to an end,” Baker says. “And it didn’t.”

As Forde noted in his story, there is public concern that expansion will overwhelmingly benefit mediocre power conference programs who often make up the bulk of “first four out” and “next four out” lists after Selection Sunday, the same teams who would make the Big Dance if it expands to 72 or 76 programs. Over the last three years, 10 of the 12 teams that were the “first four out” of the 2023, ‘24 and ‘25 men’s tournaments were from the power conferences.

In his latest SI bracket watch, Kevin Sweeney’s first four out feature an even split of power conference and mid-major programs. His next four out, however, are all power conference teams.

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