March Madness 2027 begins with Selection Sunday on Sunday, March 14, 2027, and ends with the men’s championship game on Monday, April 5, at Ford Field in Detroit.
2027 is the first year of the expanded 76-team field.
The expansion is the headline. The NCAA announced on May 7, 2026, that both the men’s and women’s Division I tournaments would grow from 68 teams to 76, effective 2027.
That adds an Opening Round — replacing and enlarging the First Four — with 12 games rather than four, played across two days before the 64-team bracket begins.
Table of Contents
March Madness 2027 schedule, men’s tournament
The 2027 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament runs from March 14 through April 5, 2027, concluding with the Final Four and National Championship at Ford Field in Detroit, Michigan.
| Round | Dates | Locations / Host Venues |
| Selection Sunday | March 14, 2027 | Television Broadcast |
| First Four / Opening Rounds | March 16–17, 2027 | UD Arena (Dayton, OH) & INTRUST Bank Arena (Wichita, KS) |
| First Round | March 18–19, 2027 | 8 Regional Host Cities (listed below) |
| Second Round | March 20–21, 2027 | 8 Regional Host Cities (listed below) |
| Sweet 16 | March 25–26, 2027 | Los Angeles, San Antonio, New York, Kansas City |
| Elite Eight | March 27–28, 2027 | Los Angeles, San Antonio, New York, Kansas City |
| Final Four | April 3, 2027 | Ford Field (Detroit, MI) |
| National Championship | April 5, 2027 | Ford Field (Detroit, MI) |
First & Second Round Sites
- March 18 & 20, 2027:
- Fort Worth, TX (Dickies Arena)
- Omaha, NE (CHI Health Center)
- Pittsburgh, PA (PPG Paints Arena)
- Spokane, WA (Numerica Veterans Arena)
- March 19 & 21, 2027:
- Charlotte, NC (Spectrum Center)
- Louisville, KY (KFC Yum! Center)
- Minneapolis, MN (Target Center)
- Sacramento, CA (Golden 1 Center)
Regional Sites (Sweet 16 & Elite Eight)
- West Regional (March 25 & 27): Crypto.com Arena — Los Angeles, CA
- South Regional (March 25 & 27): Frost Bank Center — San Antonio, TX
- Midwest Regional (March 26 & 28): T-Mobile Center — Kansas City, MO
- East Regional (March 26 & 28): Madison Square Garden — New York, NY
Opening Round games are hosted in Dayton, Ohio, and Wichita, Kansas.
The Final Four and championship game are at Ford Field in Detroit, awarded in November 2022.
March Madness 2027 schedule, women’s tournament
The women’s tournament runs on its own dates, one day offset through the early rounds.
| Round | Dates 2027 | Days |
|---|---|---|
| Selection Sunday | March 14 | Sunday |
| Opening Round, 12 games | March 17–18 | Wednesday, Thursday |
| First Round, 64 teams | March 19–20 | Friday, Saturday |
| National championship | April 4 | Sunday |
Both tournaments share Selection Sunday on March 14 but diverge afterwards, and the women’s championship falls on Sunday, April 4 — the day before the men’s.
How the 76-team field works
The field consists of 32 automatic bids, one for each conference champion, and 44 at-large bids selected by the committee — up from 36 under the 68-team format. The committee seeds all 76 teams.
Twenty-four teams play in the Opening Round: the 12 lowest-seeded automatic qualifiers and the 12 lowest-seeded at-large teams. The 12 winners advance into the main 64-team bracket.
| 68-team format | 76-team format, from 2027 | |
|---|---|---|
| Total teams | 68 | 76 |
| Automatic bids | 32 | 32 |
| At-large bids | 36 | 44 |
| Play-in round | First Four, 4 games | Opening Round, 12 games |
| Teams in play-in | 8 | 24 |
| Main bracket | 64 | 64 |
The main bracket remains 64 teams, so the familiar structure from the Round of 64 onward is unchanged. What grows is the number of teams playing their way in.
March Madness Key Figures and Facts
- 68 Teams & 67 Games: The size of the Division I Men’s and Women’s NCAA Basketball Tournament fields. The single-elimination tournament begins with the First Four play-in games in Dayton, Ohio (for men), narrowing the field down to 64 before the main rounds.
- 1 in 9.2 Quintillion ($9,223,372,036,854,775,808$): The exact mathematical odds of picking a perfect bracket at random ($2^{63}$). Even factoring in basketball knowledge, statistical seed advantages, and weighted matchups, the estimated odds still hover around 1 in 120 billion.
- 49 Consecutive Games: The verified record for the longest a bracket has ever stayed perfect. Achieved in 2019 by Gregg Nigl of Columbus, Ohio, who correctly predicted every outcome into the Sweet 16 until Tennessee lost to Purdue in game 50.
- 1939: The inaugural men’s tournament, won by the Oregon Ducks (who defeated Ohio State 46–43 in Evanston, Illinois). The women’s NCAA tournament held its first edition in 1982, won by Louisiana Tech.
- 11 National Titles: UCLA holds the men’s all-time record, winning 10 under legendary coach John Wooden between 1964 and 1975 (including seven consecutive titles from 1967 to 1973). On the women’s side, UConn leads with 11 national championships under Geno Auriemma.
- “One Shining Moment”: Written by David Barrett in 1986, the ballad has closed every CBS men’s championship game broadcast since 1987, set to a montage of tournament highlights, tears, and net-cutting.
March Madness Tournament Expansion Milestones
8-Team Field – 1939
The inaugural tournament featured only 8 teams. It was founded by the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) before being handed over to the NCAA.
Expansion to 16 Teams – 1951
The field doubled to 16 teams, marking the first time automatic bids were granted to conference champions.
Elimination of the One-Bid Rule – 1975
The tournament expanded to 32 teams and permitted more than one team per conference, allowing powerhouse second-place teams to enter the field.
Brent Musburger Coined the Phrase – 1982
While high school official Henry V. Porter first used “March Madness” in 1939 for an Illinois state prep tourney, CBS broadcaster Brent Musburger popularized it for the NCAA tournament during the 1982 broadcast.
The Modern 64-Team Era – 1985
The field doubled to 64 teams, creating the iconic four-region bracket structure (16 seeds per region) that sparked modern office-pool culture.
The First Four & 68 Teams – 2011
The NCAA added three more opening-round games, formalizing the 68-team “First Four” format played in Dayton, Ohio.
Notable Bracket Busters and Seed Records
| Upset / Milestone | Event & Year | Significance |
| First 16-over-1 Upset (Men) | UMBC 74, Virginia 54 (2018) | Prior to 2018, No. 1 seeds were 135–0 against No. 16 seeds. The UMBC Retrievers not only won, but blew out the overall No. 1 seed by 20 points. (Fairleigh Dickinson repeated a 16-over-1 shocker over Purdue in 2023). |
| First 16-over-1 Upset (Women) | Harvard 71, Stanford 67 (1998) | The Harvard Crimson became the first No. 16 seed in NCAA history across either men’s or women’s basketball to defeat a top seed. |
| Lowest Seed to Win Title | No. 8 Villanova (1985) | Coached by Rollie Massimino, the Wildcats shot an astonishing 78.6% from the field (22-of-28) to defeat Patrick Ewing’s heavily favored No. 1 Georgetown Hoyas 66–64. |
| Lowest Seed to Reach Final Four | No. 11 Seeds | LSU (1986), George Mason (2006), VCU (2011), Loyola Chicago (2018), and UCLA (2021) are the lowest seeds to advance to the national semifinals. |
| The 12 vs. 5 Trend | Consistent Underdog Edge | No. 12 seeds defeat No. 5 seeds in roughly 35% of first-round matchups, making it the most targeted upset in bracketology. |
March Madness Economic Scale and Cultural Impact
- $1.15+ Billion Annual Revenue: March Madness accounts for roughly 85% to 90% of the NCAA’s entire annual operating budget, driven by its media rights contract with CBS Sports and Warner Bros. Discovery (running through 2032).
- $15–$17 Billion in Bets: Estimated total legal and casual money wagered annually across the United States on tournament outcomes, bracket pools, and game point spreads according to the American Gaming Association (AGA).
- $17+ Billion in Workplace Productivity: Challenger, Gray & Christmas estimated that lost productivity from workers streaming daytime opening-round games, discussing upsets, and managing brackets costs employers billions in unworked office hours every March.
- The Net-Cutting Ritual: Begun in 1947 by NC State coach Everett Case—who climbed his players’ shoulders to snip down the net after winning the Southern Conference championship—teams now receive custom step ladders and scissors to cut down the nylon cords following regional and national titles.
Selection Sunday 2027 shares its date with three other events
Sunday, March 14, 2027 is unusually crowded.
| Observance | Set by |
|---|---|
| Selection Sunday | NCAA |
| 99th Academy Awards, 7:00 p.m. ET | AMPAS |
| Daylight saving time begins, 2:00 a.m. | 15 U.S.C. 260a |
| Pi Day | Convention, 3/14 |
Because the clocks move forward at 2:00 a.m., Sunday, March 14, 2027 is a 23-hour day. The bracket reveal and the Oscars ceremony both fall inside it.
The NCAA and the Academy set their dates independently. The Academy has said it schedules around the NFL playoffs and the Olympics rather than the college basketball calendar.
Why the tournament is in March at all
The NCAA schedules the tournament to conclude the college basketball season, which runs from early November.
Conference tournaments finish in the second week of March, which fixes Selection Sunday to the Sunday after they end.
The date moves within a window: Selection Sunday falls on the second or third Sunday of March depending on the year. It was March 15 in 2026 and March 16 in 2025.
Spring break for many universities overlaps the first weekend of the tournament, which is one reason attendance and viewership concentrate there.
Break dates are set individually by each institution and vary across several weeks.
What March Madness 2027 is not
The Final Four is not on the same day as the championship. The Final Four semifinals are Saturday, April 3, and the championship game is Monday, April 5, with a rest day between them.
The Opening Round is not the First Four. The First Four was a four-game round involving eight teams. The Opening Round, replacing it in 2027, is a twelve-game round involving 24.
The men’s and women’s championships are not on the same day. The women’s final is Sunday, April 4, and the men’s is Monday, April 5.
March Madness is not a federal holiday and closes nothing. Selection Sunday, the Final Four, and the championship are all ordinary days for federal offices, banks, and schools.
March Madness Frequently Asked Questions
When is Selection Sunday 2027?
Sunday, March 14, 2027. The 76-team brackets for both the men’s and women’s Division I tournaments are revealed that day. It is also the day daylight saving time begins, so the Sunday runs 23 hours.
When is the Final Four 2027?
Saturday, April 3, 2027, at Ford Field in Detroit, with the championship game on Monday, April 5, at the same venue. The women’s championship is Sunday, April 4.
How many teams are in March Madness 2027?
76, up from 68. The NCAA announced the expansion on May 7, 2026, effective with the 2027 tournament. The field is 32 automatic bids and 44 at-large bids. Twenty-four teams play a 12-game Opening Round on March 16 and 17, with the winners joining the 64-team main bracket.
