2027 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament
Basketball tournament
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The 2027 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament will involve a total of 76 teams playing in a single-elimination tournament to help determine the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I men's college basketball national champion for the 2026–27 season.[1] The 88th edition of the tournament is scheduled to begin on March 16, 2027, and it will conclude with the championship game on April 5, 2027, at Ford Field in Detroit. This tournament will mark the introduction of the Opening Round and an expansion of the field of participants from 68 teams to 76.
| |||||
| Season | 2026–27 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Teams | 76 | ||||
| Finals site | Ford Field, Detroit, Michigan | ||||
| |||||
Tournament procedure
On May 7, 2026, the NCAA announced that the men's and women's Division I tournaments will expand to 76 teams beginning in 2027. The field will consist of 32 automatic bids awarded to each program that wins a conference championship, and 44 "at-large" bids (an increase from 36) extended by the NCAA selection committee. The selection committee will then seed the teams from 1 to 76. Twenty-four teams (the 12 lowest-seeded automatic qualifiers and the 12 lowest-seeded at-large teams) will compete in the "March Madness Opening Round" (an expanded version of the First Four); the winners of these games will advance to the main 64-team bracket.[2][3]
Schedule and venues
The following sites were selected to host each round of the 2027 tournament:[4]
Opening Round
- March 16 and 17
First and second rounds
- March 18 and 20
- March 19 and 21
- Spectrum Center, Charlotte, North Carolina (Hosts: UNC Charlotte/Atlantic Coast Conference)
- Target Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota, (Host: University of Minnesota)
- KFC Yum! Center, Louisville, Kentucky, (Host: University of Louisville)
- Golden 1 Center, Sacramento, California (Host: California State University, Sacramento)
Regional semifinals and finals (Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight)
- March 25 and 27
- South Regional
- West Regional
- March 26 and 28
- Midwest Regional
- East Regional
National semifinals and championship game (Final Four)
- April 3 and 5
Detroit will host the Final Four for the second time, having previously hosted in 2009.[5]
Media coverage
Television
CBS Sports and TNT Sports will have US television rights to the tournament.[6] As part of a cycle that began in 2016, CBS will televise the Final Four and the national championship game.
Television channels
Streaming
- HBO Max (only TBS, TNT, and truTV Games), ad free tiers only[7]
- Paramount+ (only CBS games)
Radio
Westwood One will have exclusive coverage of the tournament.