Fox & AEG Launch College Crown Tournament with Big East, Big 10 and Big 12

FOX Sports and AEG are launching the College Basketball Crown, a 16-team men's postseason tournament, which will begin in Spring 2025. The event will feature competitive postseason matchups from select conferences, bringing college hoops fans even more compelling storylines during the most exciting time on the college basketball calendar.

The inaugural tournament will feature schools from the Big Ten, Big 12 and Big East, in addition to at-large participants. The event will take place from March 31 to April 6 at MGM Grand Garden Arena and T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas and will air on FOX and FS1.

Teams that did not participate in the NCAA Tournament will be eligible for the event, with two automatic qualifiers coming from each participating conference, and additional teams chosen by a select committee.

Prediction: The first official "pay for play" tournament in College Sports history.

Wonder how much money the players will receive?

Wonder how ACC/SEC schools respond to this.

(04-03-2024 03:06 PM)IWokeUpLikeThis Wrote:  Wonder how ACC/SEC schools respond to this.

Seems like select ACC and SEC teams that miss the NCAA tournament will likely be invited as at-large selections. It will be interesting to see if any accept or if they stick with the NIT or just skip the post-season.

(04-03-2024 03:06 PM)IWokeUpLikeThis Wrote:  Wonder how ACC/SEC schools respond to this.

An ESPN tournament at Walt Disney World.

(04-03-2024 03:14 PM)HartfordHusky Wrote:  

(04-03-2024 03:06 PM)IWokeUpLikeThis Wrote:  Wonder how ACC/SEC schools respond to this.

Seems like select ACC and SEC teams that miss the NCAA tournament will likely be invited as at-large selections. It will be interesting to see if any accept or if they stick with the NIT or just skip the post-season.

I could see a MWC school or 2 included in this (maybe an at-large) if they keep their basketball performance up. I believe they are under the FOX banner as well for basketball (I know they are for football).

(04-03-2024 03:15 PM)DFW HOYA Wrote:  

(04-03-2024 03:06 PM)IWokeUpLikeThis Wrote:  Wonder how ACC/SEC schools respond to this.

An ESPN tournament at Walt Disney World.

Works for me, maybe even keeping the NIT name.

Ideally the NIT would go back to giving smaller conferences regular season champs autobids. I'm, a fan/alum/ticket holder of a big school but the number of teams passing on the NIT made the change pointless, and FOX doing their own tourney now makes it doubly pointless to change to appease them.

with NIT & Fox taking 2 AQ
that puts
Georgetown 9-23
Penn St 16-17
Maryland 16-17
Okla St 12-20
West Va 9-23
into NIT or Fox tourn

Since this effectively kills off the prestige of the NIT, I can see the ACC/SEC pushing for NCAA Tournament expansion - as it not only increases their at-large bids to the NCAA Tournament - but also handcuffs the quality of this FOX tournament that will be bankrolling their competitor conferences.

The NIT says: How could you?!

(04-03-2024 03:14 PM)HartfordHusky Wrote:  

(04-03-2024 03:06 PM)IWokeUpLikeThis Wrote:  Wonder how ACC/SEC schools respond to this.

Seems like select ACC and SEC teams that miss the NCAA tournament will likely be invited as at-large selections. It will be interesting to see if any accept or if they stick with the NIT or just skip the post-season.

Will be interesting to see if Big East, Big Ten, and Big 12 schools automatically go to this new thing, or if they go to the NIT still, or don't go anywhere at all. I'd say especially for Big 12, no lock they go to the new thing.

(04-03-2024 03:27 PM)stever20 Wrote:  

(04-03-2024 03:14 PM)HartfordHusky Wrote:  

(04-03-2024 03:06 PM)IWokeUpLikeThis Wrote:  Wonder how ACC/SEC schools respond to this.

Seems like select ACC and SEC teams that miss the NCAA tournament will likely be invited as at-large selections. It will be interesting to see if any accept or if they stick with the NIT or just skip the post-season.

Will be interesting to see if Big East, Big Ten, and Big 12 schools automatically go to this new thing, or if they go to the NIT still, or don't go anywhere at all. I'd say especially for Big 12, no lock they go to the new thing.

I'd have to think that contractually FOX has to have a guarantee that selected teams are required to accept.

Guessing this tournament would be a loss-leader for FOX, as it's hard to see much ROI on the ratings given what they're paying schools to play in this tournament.

(04-03-2024 03:32 PM)Just Joe Wrote:  

(04-03-2024 03:27 PM)stever20 Wrote:  

(04-03-2024 03:14 PM)HartfordHusky Wrote:  

(04-03-2024 03:06 PM)IWokeUpLikeThis Wrote:  Wonder how ACC/SEC schools respond to this.

Seems like select ACC and SEC teams that miss the NCAA tournament will likely be invited as at-large selections. It will be interesting to see if any accept or if they stick with the NIT or just skip the post-season.

Will be interesting to see if Big East, Big Ten, and Big 12 schools automatically go to this new thing, or if they go to the NIT still, or don't go anywhere at all. I'd say especially for Big 12, no lock they go to the new thing.

I'd have to think that contractually FOX has to have a guarantee that selected teams are required to accept.

I don't see Rick Pitino going to this thing if he didn't want to go to the NIT this year. Or a school like Indiana.

B-12 is split between ESPN & Fox, half would go to NIT
ESPN has contracts with 25 conf
after NIT takes top 32, then Fox can pick up schools

MVC, A-10, CAA are free agents

Sweet, I'll watch exactly as much of this as I do the NIT, which is zero.

The thing about going to the NIT is you face the potential humiliation of losing to a little guy in what’s already a consolation bracket. What FOX wants to build is a worry-free bracket—there won’t be anyone in it you’d be ashamed to get beat by.

I think it’s about gutsy to go with 16 to start out without knowing how ESPN affiliated leagues like the ACC, SEC, and AAC will respond to the new tournament. ESPN had the tv rights to the NIT and is likely to steer the best available teams there.

(04-03-2024 04:26 PM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  The thing about going to the NIT is you face the potential humiliation of losing to a little guy in what’s already a consolation bracket. What FOX wants to build is a worry-free bracket—there won’t be anyone in it you’d be ashamed to get beat by.

I think it’s about gutsy to go with 16 to start out without knowing how ESPN affiliated leagues like the ACC, SEC, and AAC will respond to the new tournament. ESPN had the tv rights to the NIT and is likely to steer the best available teams there.

I won't be shocked if ACC, SEC, and others steer clear of this. Bet they try to get MWC in this for sure. If they're trying to get 16 teams from Big East, Big Ten, and Big 12- good luck with that. Esp since already losing 1 at large team next year, and tourney expansion likely coming after that.

(04-03-2024 04:22 PM)b0ndsj0ns Wrote:  Sweet, I'll watch exactly as much of this as I do the NIT, which is zero.

Makes sense.

Basketball and East Carolina University do not mix

(04-03-2024 04:30 PM)stever20 Wrote:  

(04-03-2024 04:26 PM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  The thing about going to the NIT is you face the potential humiliation of losing to a little guy in what’s already a consolation bracket. What FOX wants to build is a worry-free bracket—there won’t be anyone in it you’d be ashamed to get beat by.

I think it’s about gutsy to go with 16 to start out without knowing how ESPN affiliated leagues like the ACC, SEC, and AAC will respond to the new tournament. ESPN had the tv rights to the NIT and is likely to steer the best available teams there.

I won't be shocked if ACC, SEC, and others steer clear of this. Bet they try to get MWC in this for sure. If they're trying to get 16 teams from Big East, Big Ten, and Big 12- good luck with that. Esp since already losing 1 at large team next year, and tourney expansion likely coming after that.

This is where I think doing a bracket of 12 to start out would have made sense.

Alternatively, you do two brackets: the “National” bracket with your 8 biggest brand names and then the “American” bracket for the mid-majors. Packaged together, the big names help bring in the cash to bankroll the operation while still providing a great post-season opportunity for teams that came up short in their league tournaments. Over time, you gradually grow the size of the two brackets but they need not necessarily be the same size.