NCAA tournament expansion wouldn’t yield extra media rights dollars, at least on the women’s side.
The terms of the NCAA’s media contract with Disney for the women’s tournament stipulates that ESPN is not required to pay extra if women’s March Madness expands, sources told Front Office Sports. The network has, however, committed to broadcasting any extra games on its platforms.
The NCAA is currently mulling whether to expand both the men’s and women’s Division I basketball tournaments as early as next season, with multiple reports suggesting they could increase from 68 teams to include 72 or 76 teams. NCAA president Charlie Baker has said on multiple occasions that the women’s tournament would have to expand along with the men’s.
But any extra media rights fees would be a major factor in whether the governing body will ultimately find expansion worthwhile.
The deal, which was signed in 2024 and runs until 2032, offers an average of $115 million annually for more than 40 sports, valuing women’s March Madness at $65 million annually. The terms of the contract were negotiated at a time when NCAA tournament expansion was already a topic of conversation, which is why it was likely addressed in the new contract. Meanwhile, the men’s tournament deal with CBS and Warner Bros. Discovery, which pays out about $870 million a year through 2032, has been in place since an extension in 2016—long before serious conversations of expansion took place.
The men’s tournament expanded from 64 to 68 teams in 2011, with the women’s tournament following suit in 2022 after a gender equity report suggested the two tournaments should include the same number of teams.
Because ESPN wouldn’t be increasing its fees for an expanded women’s event, the extra fees paid by CBS and Warner Bros. Discovery would have to be sizable enough to financially justify expanding both tournaments, one source told FOS. But media executives previously told FOS that even if the networks agree to pay more for newly added men’s games, they may not be worth much, with one saying the value of any new inventory would amount to “chump change.”
The NCAA has had multiple discussions with the networks about expansion and what CBS and Warner Bros. Discovery might be willing to pay for the men’s event, Baker told reporters in June, characterizing the conversations as “good discussions.”
Either way, the clock is ticking to make a decision. For the expansion to take place for the 2026 tournaments next March, decisions would have to be finalized in the coming weeks so the NCAA would have enough time to put together the logistics of the expanded model.
The NCAA did not immediately respond to a request for comment, and ESPN did not comment.
