NCAA Tournament expansion to 76 teams could boost Gonzaga, Pac-12

An expanded field could mean more bids and increased revenue for Gonzaga and the reconfigured Pac-12

Gonzaga Bulldogs guard Davis Fogle. | Photo by Myk Crawford

After years of discussion, the NCAA is taking the final steps to expand the men's and women's NCAA Tournament from 68 to 76 teams beginning in the upcoming 2026-27 season, according to a report from Pete Thamel of ESPN.

The expansion is expected to be formalized by mid-May, with Thamel noting the final few steps "are just formalities" with a source saying "they have what they need to move forward."

This becomes the second major expansion to March Madness since 1985, when the 64-team bracket was originally implemented.

The tournament expanded to 68 teams in 2011, with eight teams playing four games in Dayton, OH, between Tuesday and Wednesday before the rest of the field started play on Thursday.

That will now expand to 12 games played by 24 teams at two different sites, with one expected to remain in Dayton.

Sources: The NCAA has initiated the final steps to expand the men’s and women’s NCAA basketball tournaments to 76 teams. The expansion is on track to be formalized in the upcoming weeks, with mid-May as the target. The 76-team tournaments begin next year. https://t.co/2ZGUjZR0uJ

— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) April 28, 2026

There has long been opposition to NCAA Tournament expansion, including from Gonzaga's Mark Few, who shared his thoughts on the matter back in March.

“I mean, there are other things that are broken obviously within college basketball," Few said. "But the one thing that isn’t, the shining light of everything in college athletics, is the NCAA tournament. I don’t know why they would ever mess with that, especially with everything else that’s so tragically messed up.”

Good news for Pac-12?

However, an expanded field could be good news for the new look Pac-12 and, by association, Gonzaga.

The more teams from the Pac-12 that make the NCAA Tournament and win games once there, the more 'units' the conference earns. In 2026, one NCAA Tournament unit was worth over $2M, with that money getting paid out over a six-year period.

The conference is not evenly distributing those units among all members, but rather staggering them based on how each team performs, which sets Gonzaga up to earn a bigger allocation of cash if they outperform their fellow Pac-12 programs in the tournament.

However, the more teams that go dancing from the Pac-12, the bigger the pie, so to speak, and expansion from 68 to 76 should help the 9-team league get more programs into the big dance.

Last year, both San Diego State and Boise State were left out of the field despite finishing in the top 60 at KenPom and in the NET rankings. In 2025, Boise State was left out despite finishing No. 49 at KenPom, while in 2023, Washington State was left out despite finishing No. 67.

Those teams would likely earn a chance to play in an opening round game with the 76-team format, and even if they were to lose, it still earns the conference money, which in turn benefits Gonzaga.

While this decision mostly benefits mediocre power conference teams, the expanded tournament will likely have a positive benefit on the new look Pac-12 as they get set to return in 2026-27.