Morning Hot Takes: May 8, 2026
- Craig Coleman
- 4 days ago
- 2 min read
Expanding the NCAA Tournament Would Break What Makes It Great
There’s a growing push to expand the NCAA Tournament beyond its current 68-team format—maybe 72, maybe 76, maybe even 80. And on the surface, it sounds like one of those ideas that’s hard to argue against. More teams. More opportunity. More schools getting a shot at March Madness. But the more you sit with it, the more obvious it becomes: this isn’t about improving the tournament. It’s about monetizing it.
Because the truth is, March Madness isn’t broken. It’s one of the few things in sports that still feels perfectly calibrated. The urgency of the regular season, the intensity of conference tournaments, the drama of Selection Sunday—all of it works because the field is limited. Every spot feels earned. Every omission sparks debate. Every game carries weight. Expand the field, and you don’t just add teams—you dilute meaning. Suddenly, teams that would’ve been sweating on the bubble are comfortably in. The difference between a 9-seed and an 11-seed starts to blur. The edge softens.
And maybe the biggest misconception in all of this is the idea that expansion helps the little guy. It doesn’t. Cinderella stories don’t exist because access is easy—they exist because access is rare. That’s what makes them powerful. That’s what makes people care. When a mid-major fights its way into the tournament and knocks off a powerhouse, it feels earned. It feels improbable. It feels like something worth remembering. But if everyone gets in, if the barrier lowers, if the field stretches to include teams that didn’t truly separate themselves—those moments lose their punch. They stop feeling special.
At its core, this push is about creating more inventory—more games, more windows, more ad revenue for the NCAA and its media partners. And from a business standpoint, that makes sense. But from a fan standpoint? From a competitive standpoint? It’s a slow erosion of something that works because of its restraint. The NCAA Tournament doesn’t need more teams. It needs fewer people trying to fix what isn’t broken.
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