How To Print A Large March Madness Bracket for Cheap

Are you ready for the Big Dance and looking to host a low-waste March Madness party? Want to find out how to print a large March Madness bracket for cheap?

It’s really easy to use your local office store printing services to order Blueprints or Architectural Prints that are super fun to use for a variety of activities, including oversize brackets, and amp up the energy around March Madness. Read on for detailed instructions on how to print a large March Madness bracket as a large blueprint to track the winners and losers and decorate for your March Madness party.

Sports are a big deal in our house. Each year, when March rolls around, we have regular discussions about which of the many sporting events to watch with the boys. The NCAA College Basketball tournament (i.e March Madness) is always high on the list and has been a staple in my husband’s social calendar for nearly twenty years.

A few years ago, I printed a gigantic bracket for him to track the outcomes of the games. He had several brackets filled out for pools with friends and coworkers, but this took the bracket game to a new level.

At the time, I paid a decent sum to print the bracket so large. I later discovered you can print the digital image as a Blueprint or Architectural print for just a few dollars at most major office stores with printing services (live and learn… and save a few bucks).

For the last two years, I’ve printed two large NCAA March Madness basketball brackets so each of the boys could have their own. At $9 a pop, the excitement over their individual brackets was well worth the investment.

Where To Print Large Blueprints & Architectural Prints

Many large office supply stores have print shops and can print large posters or coloring pages. Staples and Office Depot call these documents “Blueprints” while FedEx calls them “Architecture, Engineering & Construction Prints”.

I have used Staples in the past to print large March Madness brackets because they had the lowest price and offered free in-store pick-up. Office Depot limits certain larger print sizes to delivery, and I didn’t want to wait for that. It also felt unnecessary considering how close I live to the store. This year, I used FedEx because I had to stop there to pick up another print job and in-store pick-up is free there as well.

Any of them will work depending on what you have available in your area. Depending on which store works for you, I’ve included the links to the respective print services pages for large prints below.

Print via Staples | Print via Office Depot | Print via FedEx

Note: Links to each of the office stores are affiliate links. If you use these links to purchase your prints, I earn a small commission, which helps cover the costs of providing free content. Thank you in advance for supporting the blog! I truly appreciate it.

How To Print A Large March Madness Bracket

To print out the March Madness bracket, you’ll need to download the file from the NCAA website. You can find the 2024 March Madness brackets here (men’s bracket and women’s bracket). Here are the steps to follow.

1. Download the March Madness bracket digital file.
2. Head to your preferred website for printing services, and upload the file.
3. Select Printing Services –> Blueprints (or Architecture, Engineering & Construction Prints)
4. Select how you plan to upload your file (this is where it is saved either on your computer/phone or in the cloud).
5. Follow the website instructions to Upload your printable digital image/file
6. Select the desired size and layout of your image. I typically choose the largest size (36″ x 48″ in this case) and check the box to “Scale to Fit” so the entire image fits onto one page.
7. Select your store and where you would like to pick up your prints (or have them delivered if that’s your preference).
8. And enjoy!

I love that the oversized March Madness bracket makes following along with the tournament so much easier. It’s a perfect way to decorate for a low-waste March Madness party.

How To Dispose of Your Large March Madness Bracket

Don’t forget to compost or recycle your bracket after the tournament. If you have access to a compost system, you can tear it up into pieces or even just crumple it up and toss it in the compost bin. Paper is compostable and most inks are soy-based so they pose no contamination issues in the compost pile.

If you don’t have access to a compost bin (and don’t have a friend whose bin you can borrow), be sure to recycle the bracket. And make sure it’s not in a plastic bag. Flimsy plastic contaminates a recycling stream, so if your recyclables are in a plastic bag, there’s a good chance they will end up in the trash.

Have you ever made a giant March Madness bracket? So fun, right?

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