A basketball sitting on an empty court before tip-off, the floor holding the light.

March Madness for business

An office bracket challenge that looks like your company, not a spreadsheet.

Run March Madness for your employees or your customers under your logo, colors and domain. Our team builds the bracket and records every result, and Fanzava never touches entry money, so there is nothing to explain to HR.

Free to start. No credit card.

The three weeks your company bracket runs.

Selection Sunday
March 14, 2027. The field is set and your bracket can be built.
Opening Round
12 games on March 16 and 17, part of a field that grows from 68 to 76 teams in 2027.
First round
March 18 and 19, with 64 teams. Set your lock before the first tip on the 18th.
Second round
March 20 and 21.
Sweet 16 and Elite Eight
March 25 to 28.
Final Four and title game
April 3 and April 5, in Detroit.
How big the bracket is
63 picks from the first round to the title game. The Opening Round games fill the last 12 slots and are decided before the bracket locks.

How a company bracket challenge runs on Fanzava.

  1. Set up your hub before Selection Sunday.

    Upload your logo, set your colors and name the challenge. Invite employees by link, or upload a CSV to invite a whole list at once. Nothing about the experience says Fanzava unless you want it to.

  2. Ask for the bracket once the field is set.

    Our team builds the bracket from the tournament's own draw, seeds included. If a play-in result changes a first-round matchup, picks on that matchup are cleared and the people who made them are told, so they can pick again before lock.

  3. Everyone fills it in before the first tip.

    Reminders go out before lock. Nobody sees anyone else's picks until the lock time passes, then pick percentages show where the field split. Each person can enter more than one bracket if you allow it, and the best one counts.

  4. We record every result.

    Our team records each result as a game finishes, so the leaderboard is right by the time your people check it. You never enter a score or fix a formula.

Decisions an organizer makes before the invite goes out.

A company challenge has a few questions a friends' pool does not. Settle them first.

Policy and money.

Fanzava is free to enter for participants and never handles entry money, so there is no money flow for your policy to cover. If your company recognizes a winner, that stays between you and your own policies. Ask HR the way you would for any office event.

Who is invited.

Employees only, employees and their families, or customers and partners as well. Invite by link or CSV. Participants count toward your plan's limit once, however many brackets they enter.

How scoring works.

One point times the round number for each correct pick, plus 10 for the right champion. It is the same for every bracket and is not set per challenge, and there is no upset bonus. The champion pick carries the contest, so a bracket with a living champion stays in it.

Whether the Opening Round counts.

Play-in games fill the last slots of the bracket and do not score. Say so in your rules, because someone will ask on the Tuesday night.

One bracket each, or up to five.

One per person keeps it simple. Up to five lets people hedge, and the best counts. Decide before it opens so every person starts with the same number.

Office March Madness ideas that hold a workplace together.

One company bracket, team pools inside it

Everyone fills in the same bracket. Participants create pools with a shared code, so each team, floor or office runs its own league while the company leaderboard runs above it.

Department against department

Give each department a pool code and let the standings start the conversation between teams that rarely talk. Every person's best bracket is the one that counts.

A customer or partner campaign

Run the bracket for your customers under your brand. People join from an invite link, and on Pro and above the challenge lives on your own domain and sends email from your own address.

A remote team watch-along

Distributed teams can follow one bracket together. The Banter Board gives the person whose 12 seed just won somewhere to say so, in a place you moderate.

A charity drive alongside

Some companies pair the bracket with a donation drive. Run that outside Fanzava, which never handles entry money, so the two stay separate.

What IT and procurement will ask.

Identity.

Participants join by invite link or CSV. Enterprise adds single sign-on through SAML or OIDC, so staff sign in with the identity provider you already run.

Brand and domain.

Paid plans and a Bracket Pass ship full white label and remove the Fanzava watermark. Pro and above add a custom domain and a custom email sender.

Procurement and data.

Enterprise includes procurement support covering the DPA, review and MSA, plus data residency in the regions Fanzava runs.

Connect it to your CRM.

Growth and above connect a CRM, which suits a customer campaign. Enterprise adds unlimited CRM connections.

Running it for one event? Bracket Pass.

Brackets start above the Free plan. Run them on Starter or higher, or pay once for a Bracket Pass that covers a single tournament with no subscription. Included: Full white label · Fanzava watermark removed · Brackets.

  • US$229 Up to 100 players
  • US$389 Up to 250 players
  • US$629 Up to 500 players
  • US$1,029 Up to 1,000 players

All prices in US dollars. No tax is added. See Bracket Pass →

Questions companies ask about a March Madness bracket challenge.

Is this the same as the March Madness bracket pool page?
They run on the same product. The bracket pool page is for anyone running a pool with friends or family. This page is for companies running it for employees or customers, with the brand, identity and policy questions that brings.
Does an office bracket challenge raise policy questions?
Fewer than most office events. Entry is free and Fanzava never handles entry money. How your company treats prizes is a policy question for you and your HR team.
Can we run it for customers as well as staff?
Yes. Invite customers by link or CSV and run it under your brand. On Pro and above the challenge can live on your own domain and send email from your own address.
Can we use single sign-on?
Yes, on Enterprise. SAML or OIDC is available only on that plan.
Who enters the results?
Our team builds the bracket and records each result. You do not enter anything.
Can employees print a bracket?
Yes. The free bracket maker prints a clean blank bracket for the break room before you run the live version.
What does it cost?
Brackets are not on the Free plan. Run one on Starter or above, or buy a one-time Bracket Pass for the event. The prices are in the Bracket Pass panel on this page.
When should we start?
Set up your hub before Selection Sunday on March 14, 2027 and ask for the bracket once the field is set. Lock it before the first tip on March 18.

Ready to run March Madness under your company's brand?

Free to start. No credit card.

Want the format explained first? See how brackets work →