Michigan’s men’s basketball team secured its first national title in more than 30 years earlier this month. One day earlier, UCLA’s women’s team claimed its first NCAA Tournament crown.

Michigan and UCLA powered through a 64-team bracket to hoist their respective championship trophies, but an expanded bracket could make repeat runs more difficult next season. ESPN reported Tuesday, citing sources, that the NCAA is moving forward with plans to expand both tournaments to 76 teams.

Expansion has been on the table for more than a year, but this latest step could pave the way for formal approval, with an announcement possible as soon as next month. The larger field could be in place before the 2026-27 season.

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Though several hurdles remain with NCAA committees before any changes can become official, a source told ESPN the remaining steps are merely “formalities.”

Media rights deals remain unfinished, and signed contracts will likely be needed before the men’s and women’s basketball committees, oversight groups and other parties move forward. ESPN reported that NCAA officials have recently engaged in discussions with key media partners.

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While the financial framework for expansion is still unclear, costs are expected to rise with more teams traveling and competing. A source told ESPN the plan could still ultimately produce profit and a “modest financial upside.”

A game ball with the March Madness logo is shown during the first round of the 2025 NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament at Pete Maravich Assembly Center in Baton Rouge, La., on March 22, 2025. (Beau Brune/NCAA Photos)

Expansion discussions appear to be fueled more by the push for at-large bids for power conferences than by financial considerations. Many leagues have added a considerable number of schools under the current agreement.

“Expanding the basketball tournaments would require approval from multiple NCAA committees, including the men’s and women’s basketball committees, and no final recommendations or decisions have been made at this time,” an NCAA spokesperson told OutKick’s Trey Wallace.

Currently, the First Four features eight teams across four games. Under expansion, that would grow to 12 games involving 24 teams, with the men’s tournament adding eight at-large bids.

The NCAA basketball goes through the net during the SEC women’s college basketball tournament at Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, S.C., on March 8, 2025. (John Byrum/Icon Sportswire)

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Overall, the proposal would mean the First Four would see 24 of those 76 teams competing Tuesday and Wednesday. Eight teams that once would have been in the customary bracket would now face eight new at-large teams. The main 64-team bracket would still tip off Thursday with little change.

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FIFA on Tuesday boosted overall World Cup cash distributions to nearly $900 million following concerns over the spiraling costs for teams taking part in the tournament.

Football’s global governing body said in a statement that money shared between the 48 teams taking part in the finals in Mexico, Canada and the United States would now total $871 million, up from an initial figure of $727 million announced in December.

The cash injection was announced following a meeting of FIFA’s ruling council ahead of the body’s Congress taking place in Vancouver on Thursday.

The hefty increase comes after several FIFA members reportedly argued that the high cost of travel, tax and overall operations could result in them losing money from taking part in the tournament.

FIFA has now moved to alleviate those concerns, hiking an award of $1.5 million for “preparation costs” to $2.5 million for each of the qualified teams.

A payment of $9 million for qualifying for the tournament has also been increased to $10 million.

Further contributions for team delegation costs and increased team ticketing allocations are also part of the overall increase.
“FIFA is proud to be in its most solid financial position ever, enabling us to help all our member associations in an unprecedented way,” FIFA President Gianni Infantino said in a statement.

Read: Vancouver hosts FIFA congress

“This is one more example of how FIFA’s resources are reinvested back into the game”.

FIFA is projected to earn around $13 billion from the current four-year World Cup cycle, which concludes with this year’s tournament, the largest World Cup in history.

FIFA’s prize money for the 2026 tournament announced last year had already shattered the cash handed out at the 2022 World Cup, increasing by 50 percent.

The increase in cash payments comes with FIFA increasingly under fire for the high cost of tickets to the tournament, while some local authorities in the United States have dramatically raised transport costs during the event.

Mouth-covering crackdown

FIFA, meanwhile, also confirmed law changes which will be rolled out at the World Cup, which kicks off in Mexico City on June 11.

From now on, players who cover their mouths during confrontations with opponents will face a red card as part of a new initiative aimed at combating racism.

In a statement following a meeting of the International Football Association Board (IFAB) in Vancouver on Tuesday, FIFA confirmed that the rule was one of two law changes that would be introduced at the World Cup.

“At the discretion of the competition organiser, any player covering their mouth in a confrontational situation with an opponent may be sanctioned with a red card,” FIFA said.

The new rule follows controversy earlier this year when Benfica winger Gianluca Prestianni was accused of racially abusing Real Madrid star Vinicius Junior during a Champions League game in February.

Prestianni was accused of calling Vinicius a “monkey” repeatedly while covering his mouth. Prestianni denied racially abusing Vinicius but was later banned for six matches — with three of those suspended — for “homophobic conduct”.

Read more: World Cup last-minute ticket sales phase re-opens 50 days from kick-off

In a separate law change announced on Tuesday to be enforced at the World Cup, FIFA said that red cards would also be introduced for players leaving the field of play in protest at a referee’s decision.

FIFA also said a team causing a game to be abandoned will forfeit the match.

The move follows the uproar at this year’s final of the Africa Cup of Nations, when Senegal’s players, head coach Pape Thiaw and his staff walked off the pitch in Rabat after Morocco were awarded a penalty in added time, which forward Brahim Diaz ultimately missed.

Senegal went on to win the final 1-0 in extra time, but were sensationally stripped of the title by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) in a bombshell decision issued last month.

FIFA has also approved a change to the way sanctions are enforced during the World Cup.

From this year’s tournament, single yellow cards issued to players in the group stage will be cancelled after the first round, and then again after the quarter-finals.

The move is aimed at ensuring that star players do not find themselves suspended for crucial games in the tournament after collecting two separate yellow cards.

FIRST ON FOX: State education agencies in Vermont have paid $566,000 in damages and legal fees to a Christian school that was banned from all sports and academic competitions for two years after its girls’ basketball team refused to compete against a trans athlete in 2023.

A judge’s decision was finalized on Tuesday that awarded the plaintiffs, including the Mid Vermont Christian School and its law firm Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), the $566,000. The plaintiffs took legal action to challenge the ban in November 2023, and have now officially been transferred their winnings.

Fox News Digital reached out to the Vermont Principals’ Association and the Vermont State Board of Education for a response.

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The settlement comes after a years-long saga in which all the school’s sports teams, and even its academic teams, like spelling bee and mathletes, had to travel out of state to compete against other schools.

The conflict dates back to an afternoon early in the 2023 school year at Mid Vermont Christian, when the school decided to forfeit a girls’ basketball postseason game against a team with a trans athlete.

Their Christian faith was more important to them than a game. But it was still a hard call, and it brought some tears.

“We were all in agreement that the right decision was to not compromise our beliefs and to withdraw, but the conversation with the players was the hardest,” Mid Vermont Christian girls’ basketball coach Chris Goodwin told Fox News Digital.

“Because you play a 20-game season, and you put in the work and the expectation is that you enter the postseason tournament with a shot to see how you’re going to do and to see how far you can get. So there were some teary eyes, and some sad faces, but in the end, they all really did understand that it was the right thing to do.”

But it was about to get much harder for not just the team, but for the entire school of about 111 students.

Within days of the forfeit, they learned the consequences escalated far beyond a single game. The Vermont Principals’ Association banned the school, not just from basketball, but from all athletics and a range of academic competitions.

“Almost immediately… they came out very strongly,” Goodwin said. “We were going to be banned from all athletic competition in the state… and then on top of that… science fairs and spelling bees.”

What followed was not a single lost season, but years of dislocation. The school was forced to arrange competitions with schools out of state just to make sure their extracurricular programs could continue.

Instead of short bus rides to nearby schools, teams traveled hours across state lines. Familiar rivalries disappeared. Home gyms sat quieter.

“The travel is probably triple,” Goodwin said. “You’re getting back at 10 o’clock at night… kids trying to do homework. I don’t want to say there’s a nightmare, but it was difficult.”

Along the way, Goodwin said there were teams he coached that had the potential to win the state championship, but never got the chance.

“You know, the hard part was that we knew we had lost… we lost a couple years of participation. And we had some really good teams during those two years where we would have been, if not winning the state championship, competing for the state championship.”

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Goodwin says it affected the school’s entire culture.

“That’s a big part of the culture… having games in your gym, where parents and community members come,” he said. “That just disappeared.”

When the school took the issue to the courts, the state and its agencies didn’t fold.

ADF Senior Counsel Dave Cortman told Fox News Digital that he was shocked at how firmly the education authorities in Vermont wouldn’t back down from their sweeping sanction on the small Christian school.

“It’s been surprising how much the state has dug in their heels,” he said. “The arguments they’ve made… even saying your beliefs are wrong…

“Their message was, ‘in order for you to follow your religious beliefs, boys are boys, girls are girls, that would actually violate their nondiscrimination policies.’ So the irony of it was, they were discriminating against religious schools.”

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The turning point came in 2025, when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ordered the school reinstated while the case continued — a decision that opened the door for students to return to competition.

The appeals court ruled in September 2025 that Mid Vermont Christian must be allowed to participate in state athletics, after two years of banishment had passed. The court then returned the case to district court for further proceedings.

So Goodwin was able to lead his team back onto the court this season.

A bittersweet moment occurred when Mid Vermont Christian made it back to the state tournament and back to the Barre Auditorium. It is the state’s old arena every Vermont player dreams about stepping onto for a chance to win a championship.

“When we won our quarterfinal game to get there, our senior captain who graduated a year ago, was talking on the phone to her sister who plays for me now, they’re both crying on the phone, number one because of the joy of achieving a goal that they wanted to achieve, but also the sadness of her sister, who’s a freshman in college now, not having that opportunity,” Goodwin said.

Mid Vermont Christian School’s girls basketball team was reinstated to Vermont state sports following a court order by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in June 2024. (Alliance Defending Freedom)

“That’s the hardest part to see the sadness that these girls have to experience. Because the state decided to make the decision it just, it was hurtful and it’s bittersweet that we’re back in, but we are glad we’re back in.”

For the school and ADF, the satisfaction of their win in court goes beyond just the arena of play, as the movement to “save girls sports” grows nationwide.

Cortman recalled a moment during the proceedings.

“In one of the hearings before the court, the state argued that the school was on the wrong side of history,” Cortman said.

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“The school is on the right side of history and will be for following his faith in its beliefs, for doing what’s right… sometimes there’s a price to pay. But it’s always the right thing to do. You’re always on the right side of history when you stand up for truth.”

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