The NCAA is apparently doing a little self-sabotaging for what only comes off as a cash-grab that’s going to ruin one of the best sporting events in the world.
According to ESPN, the NCAA Tournament is set to expand to 76 teams, effectively immediately, which means that next year’s March Madness is going to look a lot different.
The new format would reportedly replace the “First Four” with a 24-team, 12-game opening round which would decide the 64-team field. Basically, it’s just a “First Four” on steroids with a few more teams that probably weren’t on the bubble being forced into the new first round. Before, the First Four was for teams that were on the bubble but snuck into the field, and now it’s going to be expanded.
What that means is that before, there were 60 teams that made the field and eight teams played in the first four to earn a first-round matchup in the NCAA Tournament. Now, there are only going to be 52 teams that get to avoid the opening round consisting of 24 teams. There are now going to be eight extra teams every year at risk of being bounced before the first round.
And that’s just horrible for the event.
The NCAA is trying to fix what is very obviously not broken
There’s a reason that the NCAA Tournament draws record crowds and viewership basically every year, and that’s because it’s one of the best sporting events in existence.
The excitement of a single-elimination tournament of 64 (68 before the First Four) teams battling it out where anything can — and does — happen over a three-week span is what gets a lot of us through the month of March every year. The College Football Playoff is cool, the NFL, NBA, NHL, and MLB playoffs are all fun, and the Frozen Four is great and all, but there‘s nothing like the NCAA Tournament.
Now the NCAA just wants a little more money so it can promote 12 “play-in” — although I hate that term because these teams are already in — games instead of four to get viewership up before the first round tips off. To me, that’s just shameless and it’s going to ruin the bubble.
The NCAA Tournament was already perfect so why self-sabotage? I don’t get it.
I’m sure Tom Izzo is just going to love this.
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