College basketball is a sacred space throughout March and early April, but NCAA executives are actively planning to ruin March Madness as fans know it.
The NCAA Tournament features 68 teams in its current capacity. However, the higher ups running the show with college sports’ governing body want to dilute the greatest two-week period in basketball.
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March Madness is about to look very different in the coming seasons as the NCAA aims to finalize a proposal to expand the men’s and women’s tournaments to 76 teams. On the surface, this may not seem like a huge deal to casual college basketball viewers.
NCAA leadership is expected to finalize an expansion of the men’s and women’s tournaments to 76 teams soon after this year’s tournament 🏀
The proposal would add eight games to the First Four, with 24 teams playing in an opening round before advancing into the main bracket.
Via… pic.twitter.com/GNp3bj4mAK
— Sports Business Journal (@SBJ) April 3, 2026
However, the allure of the NCAA Tournament is always the ability for smaller schools to pull off upsets in the early rounds. Then, traditional powerhouses like Connecticut, Duke, Kansas and North Carolina swoop in to steal the show in the Elite Eight and Final Four.
College basketball’s huge problem with increased transfers and certain schools spending millions with NIL money is growing. The disparity between blue bloods and top programs is only expanding, which creates a massive gap with mid-major schools.
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NCAA is actively ruining March Madness
Last season, all one seeds represented every men’s Final Four team. Meanwhile, this year’s Final Four bracket in Indianapolis features two one seeds, a two seed and a third seed.
MORE: 2026 Final Four TV schedule, tip times for today’s games on April 4
On Friday, president Donald Trump even signed an executive order that aims to stop the bleeding for college sports. His action takes aim by limiting the number of years players can compete in college athletics.
Trump’s action also plans to ensure that student-athletes are only able to transfer once during their collegiate career. While lawyers across America will surely challenge the president’s executive order, it’s clear that broader change in college sports isn’t slowing down.
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Professional leagues continue to hurt college sports
Many other sports are currently seeing similar issues when it comes to diluting the product. NFL, MLB and NBA each experimented with adding more teams to their respective playoffs in recent years.
Meanwhile, the FIFA World Cup is expanding to 48 soccer teams in 2026 for the first time in tournament history. Realistically, history always indicates that leagues will prioritize money over anything else, but in the case of college sports the amateurism is completely gone.
The college basketball transfer portal will open in April. Based on top schools’ spending habits from last season, it’s evident that programs are only going to up the ante further.
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In 2025, Kentucky boosted its roster under head coach Mark Pope by spending over $23 million. That comes despite the Wildcats crashing out of the NCAA Tournament in the Round of 64.
Perhaps Trump and the NCAA come together to figure out how players and schools can find a way back to what originally made March Madness great. However, the current road that the sport is heading for doesn’t seem to indicate that scenario is possible.
