NCAA to expand March Madness to 68 teams

http://www.suntimes.com/sports/colleges/2189312,ncaa-tournament-expansion-tv-042210.article

NDIANAPOLIS -- The NCAA is on the verge of expanding the men's basketball tournament from 65 to 68 teams beginning next year and announced a new, $10.8 billion broadcasting deal with CBS Sports and Turner Broadcasting on Thursday that will allow every game to be shown live for the first time.

will be fun for every game to be shown...not really sure of the purpose to expand to 68 teams...either expand bigger, or leave it....guess this will make a play in game for every #16 spot...so we can watch 8 teams vie for 4 chances to get drilled.....but it would open up 4 more spots at #12/#13 seeds to see a Mississippi State or Illinois or Rhode Island get in..

Hope they get the format right to the point where the bubble teams are in these play-in games.

This is useless. There will always be teams just out on the other side of the bubble i.e., the next group of complainers will be the teams rated #69-72, it's like a dog chasing it's tail.
This is about buffering the potential outrage of expanding to 96 teams 2 years down the road. DO NOT ever, EVER think that it is about anything other than the Benjie$. Their greed knows no boundaries. In 5 years it will be called March Madness/ April Anarchy and the Final Four will eventually play out in May. Stretch it out and make more $$$$$$$

The NCAA on Thursday announced plans to expand its men's basketball tournament from 65 to 68 teams -- and a new, $10.8-billion broadcasting deal with CBS and Turner Broadcasting that will allow every game to be shown live.

The three-team expansion is far more modest than the 80- and 96-team proposals the NCAA outlined only a few weeks ago at the Final Four.

The new format will be in place next year, though exactly how it will work still needs to be ironed out by the Division I men's basketball committee. There will be four opening-round games instead of the current one play-in game, but it's not clear whether those teams will be the lowest-seeded teams overall or the lowest-seeded at-large invitees.

The committee meets next month in Indianapolis, and again in Chicago in late June.

The new television agreement, which runs from 2011 through 2024, does not preclude further expansion of the tournament field at any time.

The men's tournament last expanded in 2001, adding one team and the play-in game. Another NCAA committee is looking at whether to expand the 64-team women's tournament.


LA Times