Will NCAA Tournament expand? Don’t hold your breath

At the NCAA Convention in San Antonio last week, the transformation committee recommended that some sports should consider expanding their postseason tournaments, leading many to turn their thoughts to the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. Could we see the Big Dance become even bigger?

Don’t hold your breath.

The endorsed proposal by the NCAA’s Board of Directors was for any sport that has 200 or more schools participating to consider expanding their fields.

That may or may not happen in other sports. There is zero appetite to do so in men’s and women’s basketball beyond maybe adding four to get to 72 — and that could be a reach.

The women just added four last season to get to 68, the same as the men. But according to sources, there is no desire or movement to change the field. Remember, the lucrative men’s tournament is locked into a television deal with CBS/Turner until 2032. There is an obligation to open up the deal if teams are added. Also, there are real concerns about devaluing the regular season, and frankly, there aren’t many more deserving teams.

Adding four to get to 72 could be justified. But that’s the max, and would only mean adding two more games in Dayton or any further First Four site. One more thing that may sound trivial but is critical: Adding a max of four more could keep the bracket on one sheet of paper. That’s actually pretty important. One of the big reasons the NCAA Tournament has become mainstream is that the bracket fits on one sheet of paper, making it easy to duplicate and spread around among friends, family and workplaces.

That fact shouldn’t be taken lightly.

So, don’t worry everyone. The NCAA Tournament isn’t going to change. At most, it will only be tweaked slightly. And if it were to happen, I can’t see it happening in the near term. Could it happen before the new television contract in 2033? Possibly. But don’t hold your breath.

Notable nuggets

Warren’s departure no surprise: The departure of Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren for the Chicago Bears was sudden, but not shocking. He’s an NFL guy and came from the Minnesota Vikings. So going to the Bears makes sense, especially if he has future aspirations of one day competing to replace Roger Goodell as NFL Commissioner. So now what? Well, the Big Ten television deal is done. Expansion is set with UCLA and USC for 2024 and that’s likely it for the foreseeable future. Sure, figuring out how to…