NCAA president Charlie Baker reveals possible NCAA Tournament expansion size from Big 12 meetings

NCAA president Charlie Baker has arrived in Orlando for the 2025 Big 12 Spring Meetings with expansion on his mind, but it has nothing to do with the future of the College Football Playoff. Instead, Baker is focused on basketball, and more specifically, what’s next for March Madness.

Baker, who is in his third year as NCAA president, told reporters inside the Waldorf Astoria in Orlando that one of his top priorities is discussing what an expanded NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament could look like beginning in 2026.

“That would be the goal, to try and do this for next year,” Baker told Front Office Sports reporter David Rumsey. “… We’ve been talking about 72 and 76.”

Expanding the current 68-team NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament has been an important topic of discussion during this week’s Big 12 Spring Meetings in Orlando. Kansas coach Bill Self revealed on Wednesday that he and his fellow conference peers are in favor of expanding March Madness.

“Bill Self is speaking from Big 12 meetings in Orlando,” Henry Greenstein of the Lawrence Journal-World said via X/Twitter. “He said the league’s coaches would be in favor of expanding the NCAA Tournament.”

It’s been 14 years since the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament last expanded from 64 to 68 teams with the implementation of the First Four round of games. Before the 2011 expansion, the NCAA was entertaining a proposal to expand the number of teams to 96, though a new television contract with CBS/Turner Sports in 2010 increased the field only slightly. Prior to that, the format of March Madness had remained unchanged since the 64-team field was first adopted in 1985.

Back in February, ESPN’s Pete Thamel provided an update on where NCAA Tournament expansion sits. The number that leaders are targeting appears to be 76, adding eight teams to the mix. A move could be made as soon as the 2026 NCAA Tournament.

“There’s development behind the scenes about what this tournament could look like in 2026,” Thamel said on College GameDay. “NCAA President Charlie Baker is on the record saying there’s been discussions about growing the tournament to either 72 or 76 teams. I had multiple high-ranking sources tell me this week that the more likely option if the tournament were to expand would be to 76. This has been a discussion with its media partners for a while on this now, and a decision on whether it does go to 76 would come in the next few months.” 

Opinions across college basketball are going to differ on the topic. Some will be in favor of adding other spots, while others believe the event is perfect as is. Feedback from coaches might wind up being the most important and in the Big 12, they would give the thumbs up to expansion.

— On3’s Griffin McVeigh contributed to this report.