Tournament Expansion All About the Money - Today's Take

Inside Carolina senior reporter Greg Barnes on the reasoning behind the NCAA’s decision to expand the tournament to 76 teams.

“Making the NCAA Tournament back in the day was a big deal because you had to win the ACC Tournament to get there. You sometimes had two of the best teams in the country playing for one bid, so that was too restrictive. Now, we are in a situation if you get hot for a weekend or if you are an average team in a major conference, you get in the tournament. That was an easy reward.

“But now you’re talking about there’s going be 45 at-large bids. So pretty much, as long as you’re one of the top 50 teams in the country, you’re going to get a bid to the NCAA tournament. When the tournament expanded to 64, 1985 Villanova went on its crazy run, and they’re really the only one to finish the job. But because that happened, it started the whole Cinderella movement, and it put us in this dynamic of everybody has a chance, and that’s not really the case. The reason those moments are so exciting is because of the rarity of them.

“Typically, it’s always going to be a No. 1 seed or a No. 2 seed that wins. Occasionally, you have a strong three or four that can make a run. So from that Cinderella standpoint, it’s a little bit overblown, and expansion devalues what once was a great product. Now, for those who like to go to Vegas and camp out in a sports book, it sounds like a good time, but that’s a lot of basketball and travel and missing school, though I think we are past the point of academics mattering as much as maybe they once did.

“It shouldn’t be lost on anyone what transpired with the House settlement last July. We’ve talked a lot about rev share. We’ve talked a lot about roster limits, but the primary aspect of the House settlement was a $2.8 billion back payment over the past decade to supplement players that have played since 2016. Where’s that money coming from? That money is coming from the NCAA coffers. It’s coming from NCAA distributions. How does the NCAA make its money? March Madness. The money’s got to come from somewhere. And so certainly they can say all they want about this move being about access and all. Very clearly, this is about making sure they can generate more revenue to help cover these costs.”