March Madness bracket expansion would add value and could be decided in next few months, Baker says

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — NCAA President Charlie Baker said Thursday he sees value in expanding the NCAA Tournament by a handful of teams and wants to reach a decision on the matter in the next few months. Baker spoke during Big 12 spring meetings, where conference leaders are discussing everything from the multibillion-dollar revenue-sharing House settlement to complexities brought on by the transfer portal and name, image and likeness compensation. Baker discussed the idea of expanding from 68 teams to 72 or 76. "We've had good conversations with CBS and WBD," Baker said, referring to Warner Bros. Discovery, whose holdings include the Turner networks that air NCAA Tournament games. "Our goal here is to try to sort of get to either yes or no sometime in the next few months because there's a lot of logistical work that would be associated with doing this. If we were to go down this road, you just think about the opening weekends, who has to travel the longest, it gets complicated." The NCAA Tournament expanded from 64 to 68 teams in 2011. The change introduced the First Four round, a set of pre-tournament games in which the four lowest-seeded at-large teams and four lowest-seeded conference champions compete for spots in the traditional 64-team bracket. Baker indicated that the current formula has flaws and said it would be beneficial to give more opportunities to worthy teams. "If you have a tournament that's got 64 or 68 teams in it, you're going to have a bunch of teams that are probably among what most people would consider to be the best 68 or 70 teams in the country that aren't going to make the tournament, period," Baker said. "The point behind going from 68 to 72 or 76 is to basically give some of those schools that were probably among the 72, 76, 68, 64 best teams in the country a way into the tournament." Baker cited a competitive Indiana State team falling short of the tournament as an example. Indiana State went on to play Seton Hall in the 2024 NIT title game, which he referred to as one of the best games that spring. Kansas coach Bill Self said fellow Big 12 coaches seem to favor an NCAA tourney expansion. The Big 12 had seven bids in 2025, half the total of the SEC. "There was a little bit that was brought forth and the consensus among the coaches, even though it was very little, would be in favor of that," he said. "I don't know if you could make it where it was totally equitable all the way across the board for everybody. Certainly, there's going to be outliers on every situation." Changes could come as soon as this upcoming season, but negotiations will have to move quickly. "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," he said.