Fox Sports, AEG to host 16-team college basketball postseason tournament in 2025

The College Basketball Crown will begin in late March 2025

A new postseason college basketball tournament will hit the floor next year.

Fox Sports and AEG announced Wednesday that the College Basketball Crown will tip-off on March 31, 2025, and run through April 6, 2025, in Las Vegas at the end of next season. The games will take place at the MGM Garden Arena and T-Mobile Arena.

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John Fanta's head

The Seton Hall Pirates student section cheers while holding a poster of Fox Sports announcer John Fanta during the game against the St. Johns Red Storm at Prudential Center on Jan. 16, 2024 in Newark, New Jersey. (Porter Binks/Getty Images)

Teams that didn’t make the field of 68 for the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament will be eligible to qualify. The Big Ten, Big 12 and Big East Conferences will each have automatic entries into the 16-team tournament with additional teams being selected by a committee.

Big Ten, Big 12 and Big East games are routinely seen on Fox programming.

"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 Jason Bazant, Fox Sports EVP.

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NCAA official game ball

An official game ball sits on the court during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game between Southern California and UCLA in the semifinals of the Pac-12 tournament, March 8, 2024, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/David Becker, File)

"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."

The College Basketball Crown is expected to be the closest competitor to the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) – the oldest major postseason tournament in college basketball.

The College Basketball Invitational and the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament are among the others.

Fox Corp. is the owner of Fox News and Fox Sports.

Ryan Gaydos is a senior editor for Fox News Digital.

Authored by Ryan Gaydos via FoxNews April 4th 2024