Executives are inching closer to agreement to expand NCAA tournament to 76 teams with a 12-game “opening round” played at two sites starting in 26-27

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How come every bad thing in college sports starts with "executives are..." they ruin everything.

Pretty excited for 256 team basketball tournaments and 128 team football ones 🤦‍♂️
 


Here's the idea. Each team plays one or 2 exhibition games against a D-2 team, then the NCAA tournament starts on Nov. 10. Every single D-1 team is in it. 2 games per week. You have to lose twice (wait, better make it 3 times) to be eliminated (Unless you're one of the 20 or so TV-Friendly " Network TV Execs need you in the last 3 rounds to make money on their broadcasts" nationally renowned teams. Then you can't be eliminated and your loss will be struck from the record and the upstart underdog who had the audacity to win a game they had no business winning, will be relegated to a losers bracket which will be eventually be named the consolation champ.) If you are one of the 20 TV Friendly teams who somehow lost thrice to lesser known and less nationally popular (by TV sponsors) teams, you will stay in the tournament via the, (name your excuse needed to get a 4th chance) bracket), and be allowed to play random games to stay sharp, (where winning or losing won't have any consequences) which eventually get you back into the Sweet 16. :)

Or you could just have a tournament at the end of the regular season, but prior to the actual NCAA season, during which your team has a chance to win and get into the NCAA tournament, no matter what their regular season record is. Kinda like a tournament that includes virtually every D-1 team and gives all of them a chance to get hot and make the Final Four. Wait! I think we already have that! It's called "Conference Tournaments", which were basically created to make more money as opposed to giving an underdog a chance to make The Dance. Unintended result that actually takes care of those who like to see underdogs have a chance to win.
 



MonikerSchmoniker45 said:
I doubt it stops there.
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Not if they think there is a way to squeeze even more money out of it by adding more games.

So dumb.....but not surprising that the powers that be are determined to do something fans don't want in the quest for more revenue.
 

MNVCGUY said:
Not if they think there is a way to squeeze even more money out of it by adding more games.

So dumb.....but not surprising that the powers that be are determined to do something fans don't want in the quest for more revenue.
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I believe I remember hearing John Fanta on a podcast say 96 is the goal.
 

MonikerSchmoniker45 said:
I believe I remember hearing John Fanta on a podcast say 96 is the goal.
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I have heard that number floated as well. Again, something no fans want but will probably happen because the people in charge don't give a crap about the fans.

They will pretend it is about giving more teams opportunities and making sure deserving teams aren't left out but we all know the only thing they care about are the $$$.
 

MNVCGUY said:
I have heard that number floated as well. Again, something no fans want but will probably happen because the people in charge don't give a crap about the fans.

They will pretend it is about giving more teams opportunities and making sure deserving teams aren't left out but we all know the only thing they care about are the $$$.
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They really should analyze the diminishing returns of added teams and games. I bet it’s not as rosy as the suits think.
 



Holy Man said:
They really should analyze the diminishing returns of added teams and games. I bet it’s not as rosy as the suits think.
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Nah....easier to just keep messing with it until they push too far and break it. Unfortunately that takes longer than it should because fans just can't give it up entirely and that is what they are banking on.
 

Well you need to find room for the 13th and 14th best B1G finisher somewhere.....
 


There are going to be some bad teams make it if it gets expanded to 76. I mean I'll watch the additional games because I'm a diehard, but it's about as meh as you can get. We're going to see teams at or below .500 get in, I'd have to guess.

I wonder if this will also incentivize teams to play easier OOC schedule. If the threshold is now just being .500 or close to it, alot of teams are going to load up on 300+ competition
 

Holy Man said:
They really should analyze the diminishing returns of added teams and games. I bet it’s not as rosy as the suits think.
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For one TV contract they will get more. Then when the ratings plummet they will get less. But they don't care, they won't be around for that.
 



Money says 'jump', corporations / ncaa says 'how high'
 

MNVCGUY said:
Nah....easier to just keep messing with it until they push too far and break it. Unfortunately that takes longer than it should because fans just can't give it up entirely and that is what they are banking on.
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MLB is already way past that point, and they still continue to expand it. I've been curious enough about the outcomes of the games to check their progress but certainly not to watch them. Baseball playoffs used to be an event with a huge national audience. I hardly know anyone who cares much anymore.
 

Bad Gopher said:
MLB is already way past that point, and they still continue to expand it. I've been curious enough about the outcomes of the games to check their progress but certainly not to watch them. Baseball playoffs used to be an event with a huge national audience. I hardly know anyone who cares much anymore.
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I actually don't mind baseball playoff expansion because it is still just 6 teams from each league. The only major issue with it is the playoffs extend to late October/early November which means if a northern team is in the playoffs the potential for really cold weather games is very high. What baseball needs to do is shorten the regular season so that the playoffs get done sooner.
 

Bad Gopher said:
MLB is already way past that point, and they still continue to expand it. I've been curious enough about the outcomes of the games to check their progress but certainly not to watch them. Baseball playoffs used to be an event with a huge national audience. I hardly know anyone who cares much anymore.
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There were 15 MLB teams with an above .500 record this year. 12 made the playoffs. The regular season is basically irrelevant.
 

MNVCGUY said:
I actually don't mind baseball playoff expansion because it is still just 6 teams from each league. The only major issue with it is the playoffs extend to late October/early November which means if a northern team is in the playoffs the potential for really cold weather games is very high. What baseball needs to do is shorten the regular season so that the playoffs get done sooner.
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They need to rethink the whole thing. Playing out multiple series in a row while it's getting colder and darker feels like fiddling while Rome is freezing. I've proposed league championship series that are more like the College World Series: multiple teams at one (warm-weather) site in some kind of triple- or quadruple-elimination format. Every team would have at least one game against every other team. I think that would be much more fun and interesting than the way it's done now. It would actually be riveting in my opinion.

Do that in the first half of October, and start the World Series by mid-October.
 

MNVCGUY said:
I actually don't mind baseball playoff expansion because it is still just 6 teams from each league. The only major issue with it is the playoffs extend to late October/early November which means if a northern team is in the playoffs the potential for really cold weather games is very high. What baseball needs to do is shorten the regular season so that the playoffs get done sooner.
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I think baseball was fine with 4 per league but 6 isn't the end of the world.

As for the timing, it's not really much later than it's been for a long time. This year if there is a game 7, it will be on November 1st. In 1991 when the Twins won game 7 I believe it was October 27th. The real change is starting the season in March.
 

My only thought on adding basketball teams is that minimum 12 Big Ten teams will make the tournament...we need to annually be one of them. That seems like a low bar but may prove to be too much...IDK?
 

I would almost rather they expand to 96 and go back to starting the tournament on Thursday. Round of 96/64 week-end 1. Rounds of 32/16 week-end 2. Hold the final 8/4/2 in one place like Division II does and play Wednesday/Thursday and then Saturday/Monday like always.
 


Make the bracket 64 teams. 12 of those teams come from "qualifying games" of the last 24 teams in contention. The margins between the last few teams in/out of the tournament has gotten pretty narrow the last few years. Instead of a grew of people deciding who those final teams are, let them duke it out to see who makes the bracket.

This won't be how they describe or market it, but that's how I see it.
 

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