Fox Sports launches rival college basketball tournament with NIT

college basketball

by christian arnold

In 2025, there will be a new college basketball tournament in the postseason.

College Basketball Crown, a joint venture between Fox Sports and AEG, will launch next year and will feature 16 teams that did not make the NCAA Tournament.

The first tournament will be held in Las Vegas, with MGM Grand Garden Arena and T-Mobile Arena hosting the tournament, with two teams from the Big Ten, Big 12 and Big East receiving automatic bids.

The remainder of the field will be filled with large bids selected by the committee.

“We are honored to be a part of the inaugural College Basketball Crown, an exciting and innovative addition to the college basketball calendar,” Big East Commissioner Val Ackerman said in a statement. “We are confident that the formidable capabilities of FOX Sports, AEG and their event partners will create a quality postseason opportunity for coaches, players and schools.”

The college basketball crown game will be broadcast on Fox and FS1.

The new postseason tournament will be comparable to the National Invitational Tournament, where several prominent schools, including St. John's, declined to participate in this year's event.

The NCAA runs the NIT and had changed its selection process to include more teams from the Power 6 conferences.

The 32-team tournament is the oldest in college basketball and was a long-standing tradition at Madison Square Garden from 1938 to 2019.

“Postseason college basketball is one of the most exciting times of the year, and FOX Sports is proud to be at the forefront of efforts to evolve and improve our sport,” said FOX Sports Executive Vice President Jordan Bazant said in a statement. “Along with AEG, Big Ten, Big 12 and BIG EAST, we are excited to provide even more opportunities for student-athletes to compete in high-quality postseason college hoops and for viewers to enjoy the battle for the college basketball crown. .”