March 25, 2024; Glendale, AZ, USA; Workers install logos on the exterior of State Farm Stadium in preparations for the Final Four of the NCAA Tournament to be held from April 6-8. Mandatory Credit: Michael Chow-USA TODAY Sports
Fox Sports and AEG announced that they will launch a new post-season tourney next season. Called “The College Basketball Crown”, it will host 16 teams in Las Vegas. According to ESPN: The games will be played at the MGM Grand Garden Arena and T-Mobile Arena. Both venues have hosted college basketball games in the past, including the Pac-12 tournaments. Teams that do not qualify for the NCAA tournament will be eligible. The Big Ten, Big 12 and Big East — whose games are carried on Fox — will each have two automatic entries. The other teams will be selected by a committee.
One wonders how this will try and separate itself from the NIT. The NIT already suffered snubbs from power 5 teams that missed the bubble in the NCAA Tournament. What can Fox and AEG do beside offer a lot of cash? Couple that with the desire to get to work on the portal early and you gotta wonder how this this will do. With enough time and money, it could surpass the NIT, but if teams remain unwilling to participate after being snubbed for March Madness, and if the field would expand even more from 68 teams, that would be trouble.
Still, March basketball in a location like Las Vegas isn’t the worst thing in the world for the average fan.
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