On Monday, the NCAA revealed that there will be no expansion to its men’s and women’s college basketball tournaments, confirming that March Madness will retain 68-team fields for the 2025-26 season.

The committee overseeing the tournament weighed the idea of expanding the field to 72 or 76 teams. According to several reports, Dan Gavitt, the NCAA’s senior vice president of men’s basketball, said that while a decision has been made regarding this season, “the committees will continue conversations on whether to recommend expanding to 72 or 76 team in advance of the 2027 championships.”

NCAA president Charlie Baker told Front Office Sports in May that expanding March Madness is something “that would be the goal, to try and do this for next year.” Baker said the window could close as it weighs the value of expansion in concert with longtime broadcast partner CBS and Warner Bros.-Discovery, which owns TNT, TBS, and TruTV, all of which host March Madness games.

Both broadcast partners have deals with college sports’ governing body through the 2032 season, estimated at close to $1 billion annually. The consensus among the NCAA committee and a number of conferences across college basketball is that expanding the field could be worth even more to broadcast partners, in addition to allowing more teams to make the tournaments.

Any changes would mark the sixth time the field has expanded since the tournament was introduced with eight teams in 1939. The last time the field expanded was in 2011, when the NCAA added its “First Four” games between the programs with the lowest-seeded automatic qualifiers and the four at-large teams also with the lowest seed.

Penn State No. 3 in coaches poll

On Monday, USA Today released its preseason coaches poll for college football, with Penn State taking the No. 3 ranking, just below No. 2 Ohio State and two spots behind top-ranked Texas.

The Nittany Lions received 14 first-place votes and garnered 1,525 points. Penn State sits two spots ahead on the list from Notre Dame, which knocked off the Nittany Lions in the semifinal round of the 2024 College Football Playoff. Nestled between them at No. 4 is Georgia.

“I think when you took a look at all of our personnel, not just the players, but the staff and players, [this] is the best combination that we’ve had in my 12 years here,” Penn State coach James Franklin said Saturday at the team’s media day. “The depth, the experience, the talent is impressive, so that’s been fun to be a part of.”

Penn State opens its season at Beaver Stadium against Nevada on Aug. 30 (3:30 p.m., CBS). The Nittany Lions’ highly anticipated clash with Big Ten rival Ohio State will be on Nov. 1 in Columbus. Time and TV have yet to be announced.