Enlarge By Matt Detrich, The Indianapolis Star The NCAA announced Thursday a new 14-year agreement with CBS and Turner Broadcasting for rights to the men's basketball tournament, which will expand to 68 teams starting next season. TO NCAA, 68 GREATER THAN 96 TO NCAA, 68 GREATER THAN 96 Starting next year, the NCAA men's basketball tournament will stand at 68 teams. But for how long? A 96-team field had been discussed leading up to the new 14-year CBS/Turner Sports agreement announced Thursday. The NCAA still can expand the tournament further under the deal worth nearly $11 billion. But Greg Shaheen, the NCAA's vice president of basketball and business strategies, said it is in no hurry to do so. "There's no expectation that further conversations will take place related to the field anytime in the near future," Shaheen said. For now the money isn't there to make a leap to 96, which started to become clear in negotiations after the Final Four, according to Ohio State athletics director Gene Smith. He's a member of the NCAA basketball committee and will be its chairman next season. "I'm not sure the financial differential was much between 68 and 96," Smith said in a telephone interview. "A lot of us assumed it would be. You assume more inventory would mean more money. But at the end of the day the games are played in the same window. It's not like you're going to get a whole lot more. But we didn't know that until the negotiations." He said he was ecstatic about a 68-team field: "We were able to keep the tournament (model) as it is, and you're able to make a little more money. If you go to 96 there were questions: What does it do to the regular season, conference tournaments, and does it dilute the tournament?" -- By Marlen Garcia The NCAA men's basketball tournament is expanding, starting next season, but not on the large scale once expected. The sport's signature event will grow to 68 teams from 65 in conjunction with a new 14-year, nearly $11 billion television agreement with CBS and Turner Sports announced Thursday. That gives the NCAA a 41% hike in annual media and marketing rights connected to the tournament — and "financial stability through the first quarter of this century," interim President Jim Isch said — without the controversy of a more dramatic move to a 96-team bracket. Negotiations with CBS/Turner, ESPN and Fox Sports initially had targeted a 96-team field, drawing concern and criticism from traditionalists and others over the impact on the tournament's aesthetics, effect on college basketball's regular season and conference tournaments and potential for further intrusion on players' time and studies. Sentiment turned to 68 shortly after the men's Final Four this month, when it became apparent that the money wouldn't significantly change, according to two people with knowledge of the negotiations. VIDEO: USA TODAY breaks down the new NCAA deal OPENING ROUND: Who will land in four play-in games? REACTION: Overall, coaches positive on tourney changes BLOG: More on the field's expansion to 68 teams VOTE: Do you like the 68-team format vs. 96? The more modest expansion preserves the NCAA-run National Invitation Tournament, whose 32 berths would have been folded into a 96-team NCAA field. A five-year TV contract for that event expired this year, and negotiations for a new deal are underway, one of the persons said. "Some expansion is a good thing. I don't know if anyone really wanted 96," said Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim, a long-outspoken proponent of a larger NCAA field. Said Big Ten Conference Commissioner Jim Delany, a former chairman of the committee that oversees the tournament and leading opponent of expansion to 96, "I was a little surprised but pleased. "I think a lot of teams can fill those additional three or four slots. The NCAA got security and some growth. A traditional (broadcast) partner was retained, and a new partner was added. I think the fans will be well-served. More of these games will be seen on more platforms (with) less regionalization. … I think all in all, Isch and his team got us to a good place." Every game will now be shown nationally in its entirety for the first time. The new deal replaces an 11-year, $6 billion contract with CBS that was scheduled to run through the 2012-13 season but gave the NCAA an option to opt out three years early — by July 31. The NCAA's Division I Board of Directors, comprised of university presidents and chancellors, is expected to sign off on the accompanying expansion to 68 teams when it meets April 29 in Indianapolis. The Division I men's basketball committee then must work out the 68-team format, which will feature four opening-round games rather than the current one to pare down to a conventional 64-team bracket. A key question is whether the eight lowest-seeded teams — typically the champions of lower-echelon conferences — will be assigned to those initial games or if the committee will fill at least some of the slots with the lowest-seeded at-large invitees. Many of the latter come from marquee leagues. "I can't predict," said Ohio State Gene Smith, the committee's incoming chairman. "We spent more time mentally preparing for 96 because it was the most daunting and challenging." Said UCLA athletics director Dan Guerrero, the current chairman: "There are a number of options. Clearly the most obvious option is to add three at-large teams and continue to seed the way we normally do," with the 16th- and 17th-seeded teams playing opening-round games. "Or we could be real creative and look at other models that might make the opening games, at least to the fans, a little more intriguing." The panel meets next month in Indianapolis and again in Chicago in late June and early July. Further expansion of the tournament, to 96 or some lower number, isn't impossible under the new agreement, which runs through the 2023-24 season. The NCAA can alter the bracket if it chooses, and CBS News and Sports President Sean McManus said "we have flexibility in our deal to accommodate" it. However, NCAA Senior Vice President Greg Shaheen, who works closely with the basketball committee, said, "There's no expectation (that) further conversation takes place related to the field anytime in the near future." The last tinkering with the bracket came in 2001, when the 65th team was added to accommodate a rise in the number of automatically qualifying conference tournament champions to 31. At-large bids go to 34 other teams. The last significant expansion of the tournament, from 53 to 64 teams, came in 1985. The new agreement with CBS and Turner will spread NCAA tournament games across four networks starting next March. The four opening-round games and 48 first- and second-round games will be carried by CBS, TBS, TNT and TruTV. Regional semifinals will play out on CBS and Turner. Through the 2014-15 season, regional finals and Final Four games will stay on CBS. Starting with the 2015-16 season, CBS and Turner will share regional final coverage and alternate carrying the nationals semifinals and championship game (on CBS and Turner's TBS). "For the basketball fan, if he is now living in Chicago and wants to watch the Kentucky game, he has the opportunity to do that," McManus said. "It really is a win-win for everybody involved." The new deal is worth a little more than an average of $771 million annually — up from $545.5 million under the previous CBS contract — and payments for digital and other new media rights will push the total value past $11 billion. "I don't call it a windfall," Delany said. "I call it a secure, conservative play that guarantees a good, solid stream of revenue in a tough time. "Whether or not the marketplace will be better a year or two from now is hard to say. But I would say … it's a good reflection that the property is still healthy even in a marketplace that's not considered by most people to be incredibly vibrant." The NCAA also holds an agreement with ESPN for the women's basketball tournament, College World Series and 21 other NCAA championships worth $55 million over the next three years. And it's shopping the rights to 60-plus other national championships. Contributing: Marlen Garcia, Tim Gardner Guidelines: You share in the USA TODAY community, so please keep your comments smart and civil. Don't attack other readers personally, and keep your language decent. Use the "Report Abuse" button to make a difference. You share in the USA TODAY community, so please keep your comments smart and civil. Don't attack other readers personally, and keep your language decent. Use the "Report Abuse" button to make a difference. Read more