NCAA President Charlie Baker Says 'Goal' Is to Expand March Madness Bracket in 2026

NCAA president Charlie Baker said at the Big 12 spring meetings in Orlando, Florida, that "the goal" is to expand the Division I men's basketball tournament to 72 or 76 teams beginning in 2026, per David Rumsey of Front Office Sports.

"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," Baker said.

"We’ve been talking about 72 and 76," Baker also added. "Those have been the numbers the basketball committee’s talked about. It would obviously be one or the other, won’t be more."

The men's tournament included 64 teams from 1985 to 2000 before adding a single play-in game in 2001. That play-in round expanded to what's now known as the First Four in 2011, bringing the field to 68 teams.

Baker provided insight into why there's a push for expansion.

"If you have a tournament that’s got 68 teams in it, you’re going to have a bunch of teams that are probably among what most people would consider be the best 68 or 70 teams in the country that aren’t going to make the tournament—period—because you get a whole bunch of people who win their conference tournaments who aren’t in that group," Baker said.

"So, the point behind going from 68 to 72 or 76 is to basically give some of those schools that probably were among the best teams in the country a way into the tournament."

Right now, there are 31 automatic qualifiers and 37 teams that make the tournament through the at-large selection process. Any adjustment would see four or eight more bubble teams make the field, depending on the new size.

One can surmise that the First Four could be expanded to a First Eight or First 12. It could be simple enough, whereas each day of that round (Tuesday and Wednesday) would add an extra game or two apiece to accommodate 72 or 76 teams.

The big question is who ends up in the games. Right now, the First Four is split between the final four at-large teams and the lowest-ranked automatic qualifiers. Would the expanded field still see a 50-50 split, or would there be a different approach?

Obviously, there's a lot to work out still behind the scenes, but it appears that the tournament is headed for its biggest expansion since the field went from 48 to 64 teams in 1985.