March Madness Pool 2027: What Changes With the 76-Team Field
The 2027 men's NCAA tournament grows from 68 teams to 76. The familiar 64-team bracket is still the heart of it, but the old four-game First Four becomes a 12-game Opening Round. If you run an office bracket pool, that changes your deadline, your rules, and how you explain things to the group.
This page covers the new format, the dates that matter for a pool, and the scoring choices commissioners actually argue about, so you can set up your 2027 pool the right way.
📅 When it opens: March Madness pools open on Pick'em Builder for the 2027 tournament on Selection Sunday, March 14. Want your group on the site before then? NBA and NHL weekly pick'ems are running all winter.
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The 2027 tournament, step by step
- 1
Selection Sunday — March 14
The 76-team field is announced. Your group gets the bracket that night, which leaves only a few days to fill it out.
- 2
Opening Round — March 16–17
Twelve games in Dayton and Wichita, played by the 24 lowest-seeded teams: the 12 lowest-seeded automatic qualifiers and the 12 lowest-seeded at-large teams. The 12 winners join the main bracket.
- 3
Round of 64 and Round of 32 — March 18–21
The traditional bracket starts Thursday, March 18. This is the tip-off that should be your pool's deadline, because by then the Opening Round is over and the full 64-team bracket is set.
- 4
Sweet 16 through the title — March 25 to April 5
Regionals run March 25–28. The Final Four is Saturday, April 3, and the national championship is Monday, April 5, both at Ford Field in Detroit.
Pool formats to choose from
Three formats cover almost every group. Pick based on how many people you have and how long you want everyone to stay interested.
Classic bracket
Fill out all 63 main-bracket games before the Round of 64 tips off, and score points as your picks win, with more points for later rounds. The tradition, and the format most people know.
Round-by-round pick'em
Pick each round's winners after the matchups are set. A first-round upset costs you points but never ends your tournament, so the whole group stays in it to the Final Four.
Tournament survivor
Pick one team to win each round or each day, never the same team twice. Simple to explain and brutal by the second weekend.
This winter: NBA and NHL
Keep your group playing between football and March with a weekly NBA or NHL pick'em: one weekend slate, eight games, picked for you.
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Your bracket pool deadline in 2027
With 12 Opening Round games instead of four, setting the deadline at the very first game would mean half the bracket is still undecided. Most pools will be better off locking at the first Round of 64 tip-off on Thursday, March 18. By then every Opening Round game is final and players fill out a clean 64-team bracket, just like before.
Pools that want the Opening Round in play can count it separately: a small side pick'em on those 12 games, or bonus points for picking Opening Round winners.
Scoring systems commissioners use
Settle scoring before the bracket comes out, because people will check the rules after their champion loses.
- •Doubling by round (1-2-4-8-16-32): the standard. Each round is worth the same total, so the champion pick matters a lot.
- •Upset bonus: add the seed difference when a lower seed wins. It rewards the player who called the 12-over-5.
- •Flat scoring: every correct pick is worth one point. It keeps early rounds meaningful but makes the title pick nearly irrelevant.
- •Tiebreaker: total points in the championship game, the same as almost every pool in America.
How to keep the whole office in it
The classic bracket's problem is the busted bracket: by the first Sunday, half the pool is mathematically out and stops checking. If your group is big or casual, run a round-by-round pick'em alongside the bracket, or instead of it, so everyone has something to play for every weekend. Survivor is a good second contest for the diehards.
What running a March pool here will look like
The bracket fills in for you
Matchups come straight from the official field, with no typing 64 team names into a spreadsheet on Selection Sunday night.
Live scoring
Standings update during the games, all the way through April 5.
One link for the whole office
Players join with a name and email. No app, no account, nothing to install.
Reminders before the deadline
Players who haven't filled out their picks get a nudge before tip-off.
You run the money
Show the buy-in and payout split, and mark who's paid. We never touch the pot.
Free for small groups
Up to 10 players free. Unlimited is $49 a year for bigger offices.
We never touch the pot
March Madness pools are the biggest office pools of the year, and most have a buy-in. Set the buy-in and the payout split yourself, collect it by Venmo, Zelle, or cash, and pay the winners after April 5. Pick'em Builder shows the pot and who's paid, and never holds or pays out a dollar.
Pricing
Free for pools up to 10 players — every format, live scoring, full standings. Bigger group? Unlimited is $49/year (about $4 a month) or $5/month, for as many players and pools as you want. Players always join free.
Questions
- How many teams are in the 2027 NCAA tournament?
- 76 in the men's tournament, up from 68. Twenty-four teams play 12 Opening Round games on March 16–17, and the winners join the main 64-team bracket.
- When is Selection Sunday 2027?
- Sunday, March 14, 2027.
- When should my bracket pool lock?
- At the first Round of 64 tip-off on Thursday, March 18. By then the Opening Round is finished and every bracket line is filled in.
- Where are the 2027 Final Four and championship?
- Ford Field in Detroit. The national semifinals are Saturday, April 3, and the championship is Monday, April 5.
- When can I start a March Madness pool on Pick'em Builder?
- Pools for the 2027 tournament open on Selection Sunday, March 14. Until then, you can run an NBA or NHL weekly pick'em with your group.
Related guides
March is coming. Get your group set up this winter.
Start a weekly NBA pick'em now. When the bracket drops on March 14, your group is already here.
Start an NBA pick'em for the winter — free