Source: The 76-team NCAA basketball tournament is in its final stages

The NCAA is moving through the final steps to expand the men’s and women’s NCAA basketball tournaments to 76 teams, sources told ESPN.

The NCAA committee said Thursday is scheduled to loom as the final step expected to formalize the expansion, sources said. The expansion process could be completed by Thursday.

ESPN reported last week That the NCAA took the final step to expand both tournaments from 68 to 76 starting with the 2027 tournament.

The extension was negotiated for more than a year, and the men’s tournament media deal was in the final stages of being finalized after a meeting with NCAA officials in late April. With the various NCAA committees, there isn’t expected to be much pushback, as sources indicated that the steps have been debated and discussed for months to streamline the final steps.

The formal process includes approval from the Men’s and Women’s Basketball Committees, the Men’s and Women’s Basketball Oversight Committee, the Division I Cabinet and the Division I Board of Governors.

The move would mark a significant change in one of the hallmark American sporting events. The expansion of the men’s tournament will be the largest since it moved to 64 teams in 1985. A single team was added in 2001 and three more in 2011.

Tuesday and Wednesday of the men’s tournament will be significantly different, as it will now expand to 12 games played at two different sites by 24 teams thanks to eight additional at-large bids.

One of those sites is expected to be Dayton, Ohio, which has long hosted the current Tuesday/Wednesday games known as the First Four. The other site has yet to be determined, but will be outside the Eastern Time Zone to help accommodate logistics.

About one-third of the men’s field will now play on Tuesday or Wednesday, as 24 of the 76 teams play in the opening game. The traditional 64-team bracket begins Thursday and is expected to look and feel more of the same.