The NCAA is evaluating further expansion of March Madness; softball gets a big investment from MLB; the CW looking for more sports rights; and more.
NCAA exploring men’s basketball tournament expansion
NCAA President Charlie Baker discussed expansion of the 2026 March Madness men’s basketball tournament, adding there have been “good conversations” with media rightsholders CBS Sports and TNT Sports while speaking at the Big 12 spring meetings in Orlando on Thursday. Baker noted that there is a deadline of “early summer” to finalize an agreement if expansion were to be implemented for the upcoming edition of the tournament. The TV partners would be expected to pay additional rights fees to the NCAA, but financial details of these discussions have not been reported.
Expansion to 72 or 76 teams would mostly impact the “First Four” round of the tournament introduced in 2011, traditionally held on the Tuesday and Wednesday following Selection Sunday. Previous reporting suggests any expansion would be structured so that there are still 64 teams remaining on Thursday, so the rest of the tournament can proceed with its traditional structure.
MLB invests in AU Softball
Major League Baseball announced Thursday it has made a significant investment in the Athletes Unlimited Softball League ahead of its inaugural season. The move has drawn comparisons to the NBA’s 1996 creation of the WNBA, with the men’s league providing the financial support to grow the women’s league. As part of the arrangement, games will air on MLB Network in addition to AU’s existing rights deal with ESPN.
Professional softball in the US has been attempted many times, including the WPSL in 1997, the NPF in 2004, the WPF in 2022, and the AFP in 2024, but none have been able to capitalize on the popularity of Division I NCAA softball. The investment from MLB in the AUSL may finally give pro softball the backing it needs to grow into a sustainable league.
Athletes Unlimited has previously staged women’s sports competitions in softball, basketball, volleyball, and lacrosse, but this is the first effort by the company to feature fixed team rosters, with the goal of eventually playing in home markets. The inaugural season will be a four-team touring competition in twelve cities, with the finals held at the University of Alabama on July 26-28.
CW targeting more bowl game rights
The CW sports rights acquisition spree does not appear to be slowing down anytime soon, with college football’s postseason the next target, according to Front Office Sports. The network has aired the Arizona Bowl the last two years, and is seeking to “add to our college landscape”, CW SVP of sports Mike Perman told FOS. Outside of the Holiday Bowl on FOX and the Sun Bowl on CBS, the vast majority of bowl games are televised or owned outright by ESPN.
The Nexstar-owned network has seen five consecutive quarters of viewership growth since it began adding live sports programming in 2023, and reports that 40 million people have watched sports on the network, up from zero prior to 2023. In the last year, the CW has begun televising NASCAR’s Xfinity series, Pac-12 football, as well as track and volleyball.
Plus: Big 12-WWE, Swimming, MWC football
— The Big 12 is expanding its partnership with WWE this year, according to CBS Sports. The WWE will stage SmackDown events in Big 12 markets on Friday nights prior to home football games, including in Ireland ahead of the Week Zero meeting between Kansas State and Iowa State.
— NBC Sports has renewed its partnership with USA Swimming to carry events in the leadup to the 2028 Summer Olympics. The Pan Pacific Championships will also return in 2026 after an eight-year hiatus.
— Despite initially being announced as a multi-year deal prior to last season, TNT Sports will not carry Mountain West Conference football games this season, per the conference’s television schedule release on Thursday. Games will continue to air on the Fox and CBS networks, as well as on the MW Network streaming platform. TNT will begin carrying Big 12 football games as part of its arrangement to license “Inside the NBA” to ESPN.
