The college basketball postseason structure could look different in 2025.
Fox Sports announced its newest creation on Wednesday, the “College Basketball Crown,” a tournament intended to compete with the NIT.
According to reports, the 16-team tournament will take place in Las Vegas and feature teams who aren’t selected for the NCAA Tournament.
The Big Ten, Big 12, and Big East will get two automatic bids for the best teams left out of March Madness. No other automatic bids will be granted, so the remaining 10 squads will be at-large teams.
The College Basketball Crown is intended to debut next spring. The tournament will begin on Monday, March 31, and go through Sunday, April 6, meaning the final game will be the day between next year’s Final Four and NCAA Tournament title game.
Fox and FS1 will broadcast games.
Fox Sports has officially introduced its new rival tournament to the NIT: The "College Basketball Crown."
• Hosted by two arenas in Vegas
• 16 teams that fail to make NCAA Tournament
• Two auto bids each for Big Ten, Big 12 and Big EastIt's set to launch Spring 2025. pic.twitter.com/d24Z7dWfmH
— Front Office Sports (@FOS) April 3, 2024
In recent years, more teams have passed on the NIT, the tournament intended to be the NCAA Tournament’s consolation bracket, due to the, well, consolation nature of the tournament. It remains to be seen if the lure of Vegas and Fox will be enough to convince some bigger programs to accept invitations.
If you count the NCAA Tournament, NIT, and College Basketball Crown, there are now 116 postseason spots up for grabs in men’s college basketball.