There\u2019s a shortage of perfect sporting events in the world. Would be a pity to damage one.<\/p>\n
Never underestimate the NCAA, though. Its men\u2019s and women\u2019s basketball committees are kicking around the terrible idea of expanding the NCAA tournaments, and while the committees tabled those discussions during their meetings earlier this week, it seems only a matter of time before The Fields of 68 stretch to 72 or 76 or even 176. <\/p>\n
The arc of history in college sports \u2014 as with professional sports, as with most things \u2014 bends toward money, and conference commissioners, university presidents, and athletic directors are as insatiable as any tech mogul or corporate raider.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe still-viable outcomes,\u201d Dan Gavitt, the association\u2019s senior vice president of men\u2019s basketball, said in a statement<\/a>, \u201cinclude the tournaments remaining at 68 teams or expanding \u2026 in advance of the 2026 and 2027 championships.\u201d<\/p>\n Great. No reason to wait to ruin a good thing. Expansion of the tournament, of course, would tickle all those insiders and administrators. It would delight all those coaches who want to make it easier to add \u201c[INSERT NUMBER] NCAA Tournament appearances\u201d to their resum\u00e9s. It might even please all those fans and alumni of programs in big-time conferences \u2014 people who don\u2019t want an 18-17 season to disqualify their favorite team from a shot at a national championship.<\/p>\n What it would not do \u2014 and CBS\u2019s Matt Norlander documented this point brilliantly and thoroughly <\/a>the other day \u2014 is increase opportunities for mid-major-and-smaller programs or intensify (or even maintain) the magic of March Madness.<\/p>\n \u00bb READ MORE: Big 5 announces its men\u2019s matchups for 2025, and with it, the Villanova-St. Joseph\u2019s rivalry could end<\/a><\/p>\n That second point, about the preservation of the tournament\u2019s distinctiveness, is worth making from a different angle or wider perspective. Many large institutions in our culture \u2014 in sports, in entertainment, in news\/journalism \u2014 have decided that, in the name of chasing and capturing audience and (in turn) revenue, more is always better. More NFL games on weeknights and holidays. More teams in the playoffs. More movies about the same superheroes and retread characters. More posts or stories filling our feeds and pinging our smart phones.<\/p>\n But there are two factors that are often disregarded or overlooked when these institutions try, as their representatives like to say, \u201cto meet people where they are.\u201d Those factors are scarcity and stability. <\/p>\n The Super Bowl, the Olympics, and the Masters, for instance, derive their popularity not just from their status as \u201cimportant\u201d sporting events but from two unchanging realities: Everyone knows when they\u2019re taking place \u2014 the same time of year, every year (or, in the Olympics\u2019 case, every two years) \u2014 and they take place relatively rarely.<\/p>\n