NCAA Bracket Deadline Information: Everything You Need to Know

March Madness is upon us, and with it comes the excitement of filling out NCAA tournament brackets. Whether you're vying for bragging rights in your office pool or competing for a grand prize in a national sweepstakes, understanding the deadlines and rules is crucial. This article provides a comprehensive guide to NCAA bracket deadlines, eligibility, scoring, and prizes, drawing from the official rules of a recent Bracket Challenge Sweepstakes.

Eligibility and Entry

The Bracket Challenge Sweepstakes is open to legal residents of the fifty (50) United States and the District of Columbia who are at least eighteen (18) years old at the time of entry. Employees of Warner Bros. and anyone prohibited by federal, state, or local laws and regulations are not eligible. Participation in the Sweepstakes constitutes full and unconditional agreement to the official rules, and the Sponsor’s and Prize Administrator’s decisions are final and binding.

Key Dates and Deadlines

The madness of March is finally here, as the NCAA Tournament gets rolling. The time to fill out those brackets is running down. Each of the major sites handles their bracket games a bit differently. Some will allow users to make changes up until the minute of the opening tipoff for the first game.

Men’s NCAA Basketball Tournament Bracket Deadline: ET.
Women’s NCAA Basketball Tournament Bracket Deadline: ET on March 21, 2025, for entrants completing a Women’s NCAA Basketball Tournament Bracket (“Women’s Promotion Period”).

It’s important to note that there’s always a chance that some late-breaking news could come out after that deadline but before tipoff, but something like that is usually pretty rare.

Creating and Managing Your Brackets

To participate, you will be asked to create at least one (1) tournament bracket (each, a “Bracket”). You can select a Bracket (“Men’s Bracket”, “Women’s Bracket” or both) and then select a winner for each game in all six (6) rounds of the applicable “Tournament”.

Bracket Limits: You may create up to ten (10) Brackets for the Men’s Tournament and ten (10) Brackets for the Women’s Tournament during the applicable Promotion Period.
Bracket Identification: Brackets will be identified by the Bracket name.
Leaderboard: Once the Tournaments are live, you can view your personal progress on the leaderboard, updated after each game. The leaderboard is for informational purposes only.

Scoring System

Your Bracket will be scored using “traditional scoring” for the purposes of the Sweepstakes. An entrant’s final score for their Bracket is the sum of all points earned during each of the six (6) Rounds. “Upset scoring” and “upset points” will not earn you points toward your Bracket’s final score and will have no effect on your Bracket’s ranking for the purposes of this Sweepstakes.

Winner Determination and Requirements

Sponsor and Prize Administrator are independent judging organizations whose decisions as to the administration and operation of the Sweepstakes and the selection of the potential winners are final and binding in all matters related to the Sweepstakes. Prize Administrator will randomly select the potential Sweepstakes winner from all eligible entries received for the Men’s Bracket Grand Prize on or around April 8, 2025. Prize Administrator will also randomly select the potential Sweepstakes winner from all eligible entries received for the Women’s Bracket Grand Prize on or around April 7, 2025.

Winning is contingent upon fulfilling all requirements. The potential Grand Prize winners will be required to execute and return an Affidavit of Eligibility, Liability and Publicity Release (collectively, the “Affidavit”) (unless prohibited by law) and any other documents required by Sponsor, which must be returned within seven (7) days of date appearing on prize notification.

Prizes

The Sweepstakes offers grand prizes for both the Men’s and Women’s Tournaments:

Men’s Tournament Grand Prize

A four (4) night trip to the 2026 NCAA Men’s Basketball Final Four® Semi-final and Championship games for winner and one (1) guest, currently scheduled to take place in Indianapolis, IN in April 2026.
A single cash payment in the form of a check for $1,500 (the “Tax Gross-Up Payment”) to assist with tax obligations related to the Grand Prize.

Women’s Tournament Grand Prize

A four (4) night trip to the 2026 NCAA Women’s Basketball Final Four Semi-final and Championship games for winner and a guest, currently scheduled to take place in Phoenix, AZ in April 2026.
A single cash payment in the form of a check for $1,300 (the “Tax Gross-Up Payment”) to assist with tax obligations related to the Grand Prize.

Prize Conditions

Winners are solely responsible for all applicable federal, state, or other tax obligations related to the Grand Prize.
Winners and travel companions must use hotel accommodations and tickets on the dates determined by Sponsor in its sole discretion or those elements of the prize may be forfeited.
Travel is subject to the terms and conditions set forth in this Sweepstakes.
All expenses and incidental travel costs not expressly stated in the package description above, including but not limited to, flights, ground transportation, meals, incidentals, gratuities, passenger tariffs or duties, airline fees, surcharges, airport fees, service charges or facility charges, personal charges at lodging, security fees, taxes or other expenses are the responsibility solely of winners.
Travel companion must be eighteen (18) years of age or older as of the date of departure, unless child of winner.
Winners and travel companions are responsible for complying with any requirements set forth by airlines, hotels, event venues or other vendors offering services that are part of the trip prize.

There exists an inherent risk of exposure to communicable diseases, viruses, bacteria or illnesses in any public place where people are present. Such diseases, viruses, bacteria and illnesses could be a contagious disease that could lead to severe illness and/or death. By traveling and attending aforementioned events, each winner and each winner’s guest voluntarily assume all risks related to exposure.

Read also: Crafting Your NCAA Profile

General Conditions

Sponsor reserves the right to cancel, suspend and/or modify the Sweepstakes, if any fraud, technical failures, human error, or any other factor impairs the integrity or proper functioning of the Sweepstakes, or any event or cause beyond Sponsor’s control (e.g. events such as natural calamities, national emergencies, wide spread illnesses, declarations of war, acts of God, acts of terrorism) interferes with any aspect of the Sweepstakes, including but not limited to fulfillment of the prize(s), as determined by Sponsor in its sole discretion.

Sponsor reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to disqualify any individual it finds to be tampering with the entry process or the operation of the Sweepstakes or to be acting in violation of the Official Rules of this or any other promotion or in an unsportsmanlike or disruptive manner.

Second-Chance Bracket Games

Second-chance bracket games come in two main varieties. Each game gives players an extra opportunity to win. Which is good, because the odds of picking each game correctly is 1 in 9.2 quintillion. (9,233,372,036,854,775,808 to be exact). The first is ESPN’s Sweet 16 challenge. In this game, players are allowed to create a new bracket beginning with the Sweet 16. The odds of picking all those games correctly? One in 32,768. That’s practically a sure thing. The other variation is one that usually pops up in office pools. This game allows users to submit two brackets. If they so choose (like, let’s say the team you picked to win it all gets upset in the first round), they can pull their original bracket for their backup. Both brackets must still be submitted before the first game begins, but it provides some extra life to individuals who had a rough first round.

Missing the Deadline

Unfortunately, whether you entered into a free or paid bracket group, if you miss the deadline, you’re out of luck. This is absolutely the case if the bracket game is run online.

Disputes

Except where prohibited, entrant agrees that: (1) any and all disputes, claims and causes of action arising out of or connected with this Sweepstakes or any prize awarded shall be resolved individually, without resort to any form of class action, and exclusively by the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan or the appropriate Michigan State Court located in Oakland County, Michigan; (2) any and all claims, judgments and awards shall be limited to actual out-of-pocket costs incurred, including costs associated with entering this Sweepstakes, but in no event attorneys’ fees; and (3) under no circumstances will entrant be permitted to obtain awards for, and entrant hereby waives all rights to claim, indirect, punitive, incidental and consequential damages and any other damages, other than for actual out-of-pocket expenses, and any and all rights to have damages multiplied or otherwise increased.

tags: #ncaa #bracket #deadline #information