Dan Gavitt releases statement on NCAA Tournament expansion timeline, status for 2026

The NCAA’s Dan Gavitt announced that the NCAA Tournament expansion is off the table for the 2026 edition. The expectation is to resume talks for 2027 and beyond, should expansion happen for March Madness.

“Expanding the tournament fields is no longer being contemplated for the 2026 men’s and women’s basketball championships,” Gavitt said in a statement. “However, the committees will continue conversations on whether to recommend expanding to 72 or 76 teams in advance of the 2027 championships.”

ESPN’s Pete Thamel previously reported in late-June decision could be coming “in the next few weeks” as the meetings approached. Ultimately, no decisions came down in July and now, Gavitt made it official moving forward.

During the Big 12’s spring meetings in May, NCAA president Charlie Baker said the goal would be to expand the tournament next year if that was the decision. He also confirmed the idea of a 72- or 76-team bracket being an option amid the conversations.

“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 told Front Office Sports’ David Rumsey. “… We’ve been talking about 72 and 76. Those have been the numbers the basketball committee’s talked about. It would obviously be one or the other, won’t be more.”

Following Baker’s comments, SEC commissioner Greg Sankey said the idea of NCAA Tournament expansion didn’t come up much during his conference’s spring meetings in Destin. He said things “didn’t really go anywhere” other than a brief mention.

“I introduced the issue to our men’s basketball coaches, which I think we’ve talked about with that group before. I would guess then, given the other issues we had on our plate, that conversation maybe lasted five minutes,” Sankey said. “My points to them were, this is still a work in progress.

“I didn’t know that there was going to be kind of a press gathering. This is not a criticism. Charlie Baker spoke about tournament expansion, I think, the day after our basketball coaches gathered. I mentioned it to our women’s basketball coaches as well briefly. It didn’t really go anywhere.”