Fox Sports is promoting the newest postseason tournament in college basketball called College Basketball Crown. But what exactly is it?
The Newest Tournament in Collegiate Hoops: An Explanation of the College Basketball Crown Tournament
The NCAA is debuting a brand-new postseason basketball tournament in 2025 called College Basketball Crown, which will be presented on Fox and FS1.
As it will be known for short, the Crown will be a 16-team single elimination bracket in Las Vegas from March 31 through April 6. It will feature two automatic bids from each of the Big 12, Big Ten, and Big East, with the other ten participants receiving at-large bids.
Next month, the inaugural COLLEGE BASKETBALL CROWN tips off from Las Vegas on FOX & FS1 🏀
A reimagined postseason college hoops tournament, the @CBBCrown features 16 teams across elite conferences 👑
TV schedule, tickets via @VividSeats & more ➡️https://t.co/pGI56EhtHB pic.twitter.com/qGx5mmlhQy
— FOX Sports PR (@FOXSportsPR) February 6, 2025
The first and second-round games will be played at MGM Grand Garden Center, with games beginning at 12:00 p.m. PT and the latest beginning at 8:00 p.m. PT. Once the semifinals are set and only four teams remain, the games will take place in T-Mobile Arena, right off the Las Vegas Strip and a tremendous venue for basketball viewing.
The way the participants are named will be intriguing, as it has not yet been released how they will be announced or selected.
However, it will not involve teams picked to participate in the NCAA Tournament. Although the Crown begins after the first- and second rounds of the tournament, collegiate teams are only allowed to appear in one postseason tournament. It’s also of note that programs are not allowed to decline an invitation to the NCAA Tournament.
That means the pool of teams to pick from will be the remains of the non-NCAA Tournament selected teams.
However, the Crown will have some competition.
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The National Invitation Tournament, which has long been jokingly termed “Not In Tournament,” has the final rounds take place at Madison Square Garden, home of the NBA’s New York Knicks and an extremely historical arena.
The College Basketball Invitational is another source of competition, with its tournament taking place in Daytona Beach, FL.
While teams can’t decline an NCAA Tournament invite, they can choose between the numerous other postseason tournaments — with College Basketball Crown striving to leapfrog the others and become the most coveted non-NCAA Tournament event in college basketball.
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