In an unfortunate (and somewhat expected) decision due to ongoing financial complications associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, the NCAA announced last week that its Division II winter and spring championship tournaments will be smaller.

The new bracket sizes reveal that the Division II men’s tournament will go from 12 teams to 10, and the women’s tournament will go from 16 teams to 12. You can see COVID’s impact on the full Division II playoff landscape here.

“The field and bracket size reductions of the 18 Division II 2021 winter and spring championships vary by sport, with 12 of them being reduced by 25 percent,” according to the NCAA announcement. “The reductions were initially recommended by each sport committee. The Division II Championships Committee and the Division II Planning and Finance Committee each approved the recommendations. The reductions that are more or less than 25 percent were made because of logistical or practical concerns with operating that sport’s championship.”

The NCAA cited monetary concerns from the loss of fans as part of the reason but also acknowledged that increased costs surrounding COVID testing and other safety protocols were factored into the budgets and new playoff plans.

“Additionally, Division II needed to use nearly $5 million from its reserves to cover expenses for the 2019-20 fiscal year,” the NCAA said in its release. “Lost revenue from the cancellation of the Division I Men’s Basketball Championships caused Division II to be allocated nearly $35 million less than it was projected for the 2019-20 fiscal year. Division II did receive $15 million in event cancellation insurance — part of $270 million the NCAA received between multiple policies — that helped mitigate the financial impact.”

Though nothing official has been announced on the Division III front, Inside Lacrosse reported Monday that similar downsizing is expected.

Matt Kinnear wrote that the proposed bracket, which came in the wake of the recent IMLCA Convention, would go from 36 to 28 teams — possibly featuring 27 automatic qualifiers and one at-large bid. Coaches, however, expressed doubt that all 27 automatic qualifiers would be able to participate in the 2021 season. The NESCAC, an annual lacrosse powerhouse conference, was the first conference in the country to cancel spring sports in 2020 and could potentially be at the forefront of such a decision again. The conference often features four or five teams in the NCAA tournament each year.