Every spring, the college basketball tournament known as “March Madness” is one of the most watched sporting events in the United States. For three weeks, 68 men’s teams and 68 women’s teams compete in a single-elimination tournament held in several cities across the country. However, the 2026 edition could face an unexpected problem: a shortage of airplanes to transport the teams.
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), which organizes the competition, recently sent a note to Universities warning them of possible disruptions in chartered flights. These planes are essential to the tournament as teams often need to reach a new city within 12 to 72 hours after qualifying.
The NCAA explains that these difficulties are due to “several factors beyond its control.” But another element has complicated the situation: the activity of the American immigration police.
During a press conference, the president of the committee in charge of the men’s tournament, Keith Gill, mentioned the pressure on the chartered flight market. “One of the things I’ve heard is that ICE is occupying a lot of charter planes,” he told journalists. “I think the charter flight market is simply very different from what it used to be.”
The ICE, or Immigration and Customs Enforcement, is the federal agency responsible for, among other things, the expulsion of foreigners in irregular situations. These operations require many airplanes, often leased from private companies. Over the past year, demand has increased significantly as the Trump administration has intensified its immigration policy.
According to the “ICE Flight Monitor” report published in 2026 by the organization Human Rights First, the agency carried out over 14,000 deportation flights between January 20, 2025, and January 20, 2026, an 89% increase compared to the last year of the Biden administration.
In practice, the NCAA goes through a specialized company, Short’s Travel Management, to organize flights for university teams. This company acts as an intermediary and reserves planes from charter companies.
However, these aircraft can be rented to different clients, public or private. An investigation by the sports media The Athletic published in 2025 showed that some planes used to transport university teams had also been used for ICE deportation flights.
This situation is not exclusive to college sports. Professional teams, like Leo Messi’s Inter Miami football club, have also used planes owned by the same operators used for deportations.
Even without this competition, organizing travel for over 130 teams across the country is already a complex operation. Organizers must coordinate dozens of flights in a few hours, often during the very busy period of spring break.
The NCAA also mentions other factors that could further complicate the situation: high travel demand during this period, a national shortage of charter planes, and the possible effects of a partial federal government shutdown on security controls at airports.
For now, organizers assure that the tournament should proceed as planned. Unless ICE decides to step up its operations…
