Make no mistake about it, the NCAA stands to get paid.

After this year’s tournament (which Virginia Tech is now a virtual lock to make), the CBS exclusive deal to all tv rights ends.

The network paid the NCAA $6 billion (yeah, that’s right, billion with a “b”) dollars to televise the tournament exclusively from 1999 to 2010.

So there’s your reason why the tournament will likely expand to 96 teams—- money.

I personally feel like we’re fine at 65 already.

I mean, we’re scraping the bottom of the barrel to fill those last four or five at-large bids as it is.

I don’t know about you, but if San Diego State gets left out of the tournament again this year, I will still wake up in the morning!

But the NCAA will start renegotiating its tv contract soon—- probably first with CBS, but don’t be surprised if ABC/ESPN jumps in with an offer as well.

ABC and FOX also bid on the contract back in 1999, but not as lucrative as CBS.

Remember, the NCAA Tournament is the NCAA’s *only* big-money revenue producer.

They don’t get hardly any money from the mega-dollar locomotive that is college football.

The NCAA has nothing to do with the Bowl Championship Series, which reaps the tv dollar rewards from the Rose Bowl, Orange Bowl, Sugar Bowl, Fiesta Bowl, and the BCS National Championship Game (all saw tv ratings increase this year by the way, with the exception of the TCU-Boise State Fiesta Bowl game).

I wouldn’t be surprised if the NCAA tried to sell the future “first round” games (under the 96 team format, seeds 1 thru 8 would likely get byes into the next round) to one network, say ESPN, then sell all the subsequent rounds to the highest bidder.

I’m of the opinion we don’t need anymore teams.

I’m not a big “Cinderella” fan.

I’m okay with teams like George Mason winning a game on the first weekend, but in the Final Four, I want to see the heavyweights—- the Dukes, Carolinas, and Kansases of the world.

Besides, the BCS Conferences would likely get more of the bids anyway much like they do now—- so the argument that more of the “little guys” would get in the tournament doesn’t hold water.

Bottom line—- a 16 seed has never won an NCAA Tournament game.

15 seeds have only won, I believe, three or four.

Do you really want to see a team go into the tournament as a #24 seed?