Los Angeles (April 3, 2024) – Today, FOX Sports and AEG launch the College Basketball Crown, a new addition to the college hoops postseason landscape beginning in 2025. The 16-team tournament will highlight elite student-athletes and competitive postseason matchups from select conferences, bringing fans more high-level competition and compelling storylines during the most exciting time of the year.

The inaugural College Basketball Crown is set to feature schools from the Big Ten, Big 12 and BIG EAST, with additional at-large participants. The College Basketball Crown will take place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena and T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas from Monday, March 31 to Sunday, April 6, 2025, with all the action airing on FOX and FS1.

Teams that did not qualify for the NCAA tournament will be eligible for the College Basketball Crown, with two automatic qualifiers coming from each participating conference and additional teams chosen by a committee.

“Postseason college basketball is one of the most exciting times of year and FOX Sports is proud to be at the forefront of efforts to evolve and elevate the sport,” said Jordan Bazant, Executive Vice President, FOX Sports. “Alongside AEG and the Big Ten, Big 12 and BIG EAST, we are thrilled to provide more opportunities for student-athletes to compete in high quality postseason college hoops and for viewers to enjoy the chase for the College Basketball Crown.”

AEG Global Partnerships will have exclusive rights to all commercial sales and sponsorship activations for the College Basketball Crown with FOX Sports overseeing media rights and broadcast sales.

“We are thrilled to join FOX Sports, the Big Ten, Big 12 and BIG EAST who share our vision and our enthusiasm to create one-of-a-kind experiences and events that benefit both fans and the entire global sports landscape,” said Todd Goldstein, Chief Revenue Officer, AEG. “The time is right, Las Vegas is the ideal destination and the College Basketball Crown is the perfect additive event to further elevate the most exciting postseason in sports.”

Vivid Seats has been selected as the Official Ticketing Provider of the College Basketball Crown and will be the exclusive home for tickets across all of the games in the College Basketball Crown tournament. Through this unique and innovative agreement with FOX Sports, AEG and its global ticketing platform AXS, Vivid Seats will provide fans with a new, turnkey end-to-end ticketing experience.

Commissioner Quotes on the Inaugural College Basketball Crown:

“We are honored to participate in the inaugural College Basketball Crown, which will be an exciting and innovative addition to the college basketball calendar,” said BIG EAST Commissioner Val Ackerman. “We are confident that the formidable capabilities of FOX Sports, AEG, and their event partners will translate into a high-quality post-season opportunity for our coaches, players and schools.”

“The Big Ten Conference looks forward to competing in the inaugural College Basketball Crown,” said Big Ten Commissioner Tony Petitti. “It is sure to be an exciting post-season opportunity for our student-athletes, coaches and fans across the country.”

“The Big 12 Conference is thrilled to be a part of the College Basketball Crown,” said Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark. “College basketball’s popularity is on the rise, and we look forward to being a part of another meaningful postseason moment for our student-athletes.”

Additional information on the College Basketball Crown, including ticket sales, broadcast details and more will be released at a later date.