If the rumors are correct, the NCAA will officially begin allowing 76 teams to compete in the men's and women's basketball tournaments beginning in 2027 — aka next season. Per several outlets, the details of the agreement haven't been fully worked out, it appears things are on track and an official announcement is expected in mid-May.
Once contracts are signed between media members and the NCAA, the governing body will need to get approval from several committes, including those that oversee both men's and women's basketball, as well as the oversight committees for each. Contracts are required to be signed before the committees can vote on the change.
But assuming that all proceeds as expected, the addition of more teams will shift the tournament in different ways for men's and women's basketball. There's concern that adding more teams will ultimately just result in more blowout games at the beginning of the women's tournament, when lower seeds often end up stacked against higher seeds (though once could argue it's also possible fans will be treated to a few upsets they never could have seen coming).
Some fans have also questioned the need to expand the tournament at all when a women's title has never been won by a team lower than the 3 seed, and the men's has not been won by a team lower than the 8 seed. But, again, the impossible only exists when there's possibility, and allowing more teams into the tournament might provide that.
It's also worth noting that the NCAA will benefit financially from the change. Per reporting from ESPN, while the organization won't receive a "windfull" of money, there is a "modest financial upside" and the additional funds will be used to cover logistics (such as travel, to make the tournament equitable for programs that may not have the ability to cover charter flights, for example)
The NCAA change could water down the field
The biggest concern about the change is that it may just end up offering spots to teams that are less than stellar, which in turn waters down the tournament experience. This could especially have an impact on the women's side of things, because the game is still very much being grown and the audience isn't quite as guaranteed as it is with the men's.
While there are plenty of example and potential scenarios out there, the reality of tournament expansion won't be truly understood until next year — and, hopefully, it'll actually make sense then.
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