Gary Parrish calls some media reaction to NCAA Tournament expansion ‘hyperbolic’

It’s difficult to reach a consensus on anything in America. However, almost everyone reacted with dismay to the news that the NCAA Tournament will expand to 76 teams in 2027. One of the most popular sporting events will be altered in a way that the majority of fans and the media vehemently oppose.

Change is coming, and there is nothing we can do about it. So, what will this mean for our TV viewing experience? We recently spoke with college basketball insider Gary Parrish about the future of March Madness. Parrish is a CBS Sports columnist and television analyst, a co-host of the Eye On College Basketball podcast with Matt Norlander, and the host of The Gary Parrish Show on Grind City Media.

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Note: This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.

Awful Announcing: What’s your immediate reaction?

Gary Parrish: “I share the opinion with most that it’s a net negative for the sport and that we haven’t been leaving good teams out of the bracket as much as we’ve been putting some very mediocre teams in it, certainly at the power-conference level. Now, with an expanded field, it’ll just be more of that, to some degree, at the expense of the regular season.

“All of that said, I stop short of the hyperbolic claim that ‘it’s going to ruin or kill the sport.’ I can’t think of many examples where expanding the postseason has destroyed anything. We have expanded the NFL playoffs, Major League Baseball, and the NBA, and we still enjoy those postseasons. So, I don’t think it’s great, but I also don’t think it’s nearly as devastating as some have suggested.”

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Who is the biggest loser in all of this?

“People who like to get a bracket on Sunday and know exactly who their favorite team is playing will know less of that now than ever before. There was a time when Greg Gumbel would come on CBS, and we’d have a 64-team bracket, and you would know immediately who you were playing, where you were playing, and when you…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/gary-parrish-calls-media-reaction-130036568.html

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Publish date : 2026-05-10 13:00:00

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