When Is March Madness 2027? Selection Sunday, Schedule and the New 76-Team Bracket

March Madness 2027 begins on Selection Sunday, March 14, 2027, when the brackets for the men's and women's NCAA Division I basketball tournaments are revealed. The men's tournament ends with the Final Four at Ford Field in Detroit on April 3 and the national championship game on April 5.

The 2027 tournament is also a historic one: it is the first with 76 teams, up from the 68-team field used since 2011. The extra teams play in an expanded Opening Round before the familiar 64-team bracket begins.

March Madness 2027 schedule

Round	Dates	Games
Selection Sunday	Sunday, March 14	Brackets announced
Opening Round	Tuesday, March 16 – Wednesday, March 17	12 games (Dayton, OH and Wichita, KS)
First Round	Thursday, March 18 – Friday, March 19	32 games
Second Round	Saturday, March 20 – Sunday, March 21	16 games
Sweet 16	Thursday, March 25 – Friday, March 26	8 games
Elite Eight	Saturday, March 27 – Sunday, March 28	4 games
Final Four	Saturday, April 3	2 games, Ford Field, Detroit
Championship	Monday, April 5	Ford Field, Detroit

Dates are for the men's tournament as published by the NCAA. The women's tournament runs on a similar calendar, with its Final Four at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio, in early April; check NCAA.com for the exact women's dates.

What changes with 76 teams

For years the field had 68 teams: four "First Four" games in Dayton trimmed it to the 64-team bracket. Starting with the 2026-27 season, the field grows to 76. That means 12 Opening Round games instead of four, played on the Tuesday and Wednesday after Selection Sunday. Dayton, Ohio, keeps its traditional role, and Wichita, Kansas, joins as a second Opening Round host for 2027 and 2028.

From the First Round on, nothing changes: 64 teams, six rounds, and single elimination, so one loss ends a team's season.

How teams get in

There are two ways into the bracket:

• Automatic bids go to the champion of every Division I conference, usually decided in conference tournaments during the first two weeks of March, known as Championship Week.
• At-large bids are chosen by the NCAA selection committee, which looks at results, strength of schedule and the NET ranking. With 76 teams there are more at-large spots, so more "bubble" teams make it.

The committee then seeds the teams 1 to 16 in four regions and builds the bracket, which is unveiled on the Selection Sunday show.

Why it is called March Madness

The phrase was first used for Illinois high school basketball in the 1930s and became attached to the NCAA tournament in the 1980s, helped by broadcaster Brent Musburger. Today the NCAA owns the trademark. The "madness" comes from the upsets: in a single-elimination tournament, a lower seed only has to win once to knock out a favorite, and millions of fans fill out brackets trying to predict them. It is one of the most famous sporting events in America.

Where to watch

The men's tournament is televised by CBS and the Turner networks (TBS, TNT and truTV), with games also streaming. The women's tournament is shown on ESPN networks and ABC. Check the networks' schedules once the bracket is out, because game times are only set after Selection Sunday.