The 2025 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament will involve 68 teams playing in a single-elimination tournament to determine the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I men's college basketball national champion for the 2024–25 season. The 86th annual edition of the tournament will begin on March 18, 2025, and will conclude with the championship game on April 7, at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.
 | |||||
| Season | 2024–25 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Teams | 68 | ||||
| Finals site | Alamodome San Antonio, Texas | ||||
| |||||
Tournament procedure
editPending any changes, a total of 68 teams will enter the 2025 tournament. A total of 31 automatic bids are awarded to each program that win a conference tournament. The remaining 37 bids are issued "at-large", with selections extended by the NCAA Selection Committee on Selection Sunday, March 16. The Selection Committee will also seed the entire field from 1 to 68.
Eight teams (the four-lowest seeded automatic qualifiers and the four lowest-seeded at large-teams) play in the First Four. The winners of these games will advance to the main tournament bracket.
2025 NCAA Tournament schedule and venues
editThe following are the sites selected to host each round of the 2025 tournament:.[1]
First Four
- March 18 and 19
First and Second Rounds (Subregionals)
- March 20 and 22
- March 21 and 23
Regional Semi-Finals and Finals (Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight)
- March 27 and 29
- East Regional
- West Regional
- March 28 and 30
- South Regional
- Midwest Regional
National Semifinals and Championship (Final Four)
- April 5 and 7
San Antonio will host the Final Four for the fifth time, having previously hosted in 2018.
- ^ Inactive conference
Media coverage
editTelevision
editCBS Sports and TNT Sports have US television rights to the tournament.[2] As part of a cycle that began in 2016, CBS will televise the 2025 Final Four and the national championship game.
Television channels
edit- Selection Show – CBS
- First Four – TruTV
- First and Second Rounds – CBS, TBS, TNT, and TruTV
- Regional Semifinals (Sweet 16) and Finals (Elite 8) – CBS, TBS, and TruTV
- National Semifinals (Final Four) and Championship – CBS
Radio
editWestwood One will have exclusive coverage of the entire tournament.
Internet
editVideo
Live video of games is available for streaming through the following means:[3]
- NCAA March Madness Live (website and app, CBS games available for free on digital media players; access to all other games requires TV Everywhere authentication through provider)
- Paramount (only CBS games)
- Max (only TBS, TNT, and truTV games)
- Watch TBS website and app (only TBS games, required TV Everywhere authentication)
- Watch TNT website and app (only TNT games, required TV Everywhere authentication)
- Watch truTV website and app (only truTV games, required TV Everywhere authentication)
- CBS website and app (only CBS games, required TV Everywhere authentication)
- Websites and apps of cable, satellite, and OTT providers of CBS, TBS, TNT, and truTV (access required subscription)
For the app this year, a multiview which showed all games airing simultaneously was available for the second straight year.[4]
In addition, the March Madness app will offer Fast Break, whiparound coverage of games similar to NFL RedZone on the First weekend of the tournament (First and Second rounds).
Audio Live audio of games is available for streaming through the following means:
- NCAA March Madness Live (website and app)
- Westwood One Sports website
- TuneIn (website and app, required TuneIn Premium subscription)
- Varsity Network app
- Websites and apps of Westwood One Sports affiliates
The March Madness app also supported Apple CarPlay and Android Auto through a native app.[5]
References
edit- ^ "Future Dates & Sites". NCAA. Retrieved March 30, 2012.
- ^ Bonesteel, Matt (April 12, 2016). "CBS And Turner lock down NCAA Tournament Through 2032". The Washington Post. Retrieved April 12, 2016.
- ^ Maiman, Beth (March 8, 2017). "March Madness TV schedule: How to watch and live stream every game in the NCAA men's basketball tournament". NCAA. Archived from the original on March 9, 2017. Retrieved March 9, 2017.
- ^ Costa, Brandon (March 16, 2023). "March Madness Live Returns with Four-Game Multiview on Desktop; Greater Focus on Discoverability Across Devices". Sports Video Group. Archived from the original on March 17, 2023. Retrieved March 17, 2023.
- ^ Miller, Chance (March 10, 2023). "NCAA March Madness app will support Live Activities, CarPlay, and more this year". 9to5Mac. Archived from the original on March 17, 2023. Retrieved March 17, 2023.