Jumbo Package: NCAA Tournament set to expand
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Happy Gump Day, everyone. Kalen DeBoer appeared at an alumni dinner in Huntsville last night and briefly spoke to reporters about his contract extension.
DeBoer said the new deal is a signal of where the program his heading, strengthened by a belief from the university. He also called 2026 another important year as he enters his third season at the helm.
“I think it gives the staff direction,” DeBoer said. “An understanding, also, just that everyone believes in what we’re doing. … The growth that we’ve had here in two years, a lot to build off of. Going into the playoffs, making the SEC Championship.
“This next year, another big year. They’re all big, in my mind. You never take anything for granted, so I really appreciate the opportunity the university has given me.”
Hopefully he’s able to end this one with fewer than four losses.
If you wonder why Alabama is building those luxury suites, this ticket revenue stat offers a clue.
Alabama football remained an enormous driver of ticket sales across its seven home games during the 2025 fiscal year. However, six SEC schools made more money on football ticket sales than the Crimson Tide during FY 2025, which ran from July 1, 2024 through June 30, 2025 and included the 2024 football season.
The Crimson Tide brought in $42.7 million on football ticket sales. That was an impressive increase from its FY 2024 total of $38.3 million.
Texas blew away the rest of the league on ticket sales. The Longhorns reported $62.8 million for the fiscal year, solidly ahead of second-place Texas A&M, which reported $53.9 million in football ticket revenue.
CBS decided to write about quarterbacks, which nobody every wants to write about.
Mack, the more experienced of the two, entered spring with a slight edge based on familiarity with the system and physical readiness. At 6-foot-6 with a live arm, he looks the part and, more importantly, has command of the offense entering his fourth season in this system.
Coaches trust his ability to operate the full playbook, and the ball comes out on time. When it doesn’t, Mack has enough mobility to extend plays without putting the offense in bad situations. But here’s the thing about the last few Alabama quarterback battles: raw talent always finds a way to make things interesting.
That’s where Russell enters the picture.
Russell might be younger as a redshirt freshman, but his upside jumps off the tape. His release is quick, his instincts are natural and there’s a noticeable confidence in how he carries himself — rare for a player this early in his college career. Throughout spring, Russell flashed the kind of playmaking ability that forces defensive coordinators to adjust. He’s not just managing the offense; at times, he’s elevating it, as he showed in the spring game.
Caleb Woodson is looking like the leader of the 2026 defense.
Woodson figures to be a tone-setter for the Crimson Tide on defense and seems to have all but locked down one of the inside linebacker spots. In fact, he’s probably one of the favorites to have the green dot helmet, which allows defensive coordinator Kane Wommack to communicate with him to get the defense ready to go.
Early reviews have been strong surrounding the former Virginia Tech linebacker, which is a good sign considering Alabama has to replace Deontae Lawson, Justin Jefferson and Nikhai-Hill Green.
Ty Simpson told a cool story of how the Rams kept their interest in him under wraps before the draft.
The Rams wanted to keep their interest in Ty Simpson close to the vest before the NFL draft, so the Alabama quarterback kept his meeting with coach Sean McVay “private,” he said Monday in an interview with Ian Fitzsimmons on ESPN Radio’s “Amber & Ian.”
The Rams drafted Simpson, Matthew Stafford‘s likely successor, with the 13th pick Thursday night.
“We tried to keep this under wraps as long as we could,” Simpson said in Monday’s interview. “It was something to where I knew they were interested, but they wanted to make it private and didn’t want people to know that they were interested.
“So, I had some secret meetings with Coach McVay, and I just was trying to be on script and do what everybody told me and not to tell anybody.”
Last, Pete Thamel reports that the NCAA Tournament is set to expand to 76 teams by Mid-May.
The primary driver of this move hasn’t been money, but rather access for at-large bids for power conferences. The expansion has been pushed by power conferences, which have grown throughout the course of the current deal.
The mechanics of the expansion in the men’s tournament would include eight additional at-large bids. What’s known now as the First Four — eight teams playing four games in Dayton, Ohio — would expand to 12 games played by 24 teams at two sites, one of which was expected to remain in Dayton.
The location of the new site has yet to be determined, but it was expected to be west of the Eastern time zone to help with logistics.
The expansion would lead to an additional eight men’s games, meaning the Tuesday and Wednesday of the NCAA tournament would feature 24 of the 76 men’s teams.
Just invite everyone and get it over with.
That’s about it for now. Have a great day.
Roll Tide.
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