At its summer meeting held this week in Savannah, Ga., the Division I Women’s Basketball Committee discussed the growth of the championship and ways to continue to guide the sport to new heights, including the possible expansion of the Division I Women’s Basketball Championship, although expanding the 68-team field is not imminent.
The expansion discussion followed recommendations made in January by the Division I Transformation Committee, which was formed in 2021 to identify opportunities to modernize college sports and recommend forward-thinking changes for consideration by the NCAA. One of those recommendations was accommodating 25% of a sport’s membership with championship access for sports that have at least 200 participating schools. Not including 11 schools currently in the reclassifying process from Division II, there are 349 Division I institutions that sponsor women’s basketball, translating into 19.5% of schools that make the NCAA tournament.
MEN’S TOURNAMENT: Expanding the 68-team field is not imminent
In January, the NCAA announced the creation of an annual 32-team postseason invitation tournament for women’s basketball beginning in 2024, which will be owned and funded by the NCAA. Starting in 2024, 100 postseason NCAA-funded opportunities will be available…
