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March 4, 2008
Contact: Dan Loney (dloney@gazellegroup.com), 609-921-1300
Fox College Sports to Broadcast Inaugural College Basketball Invitational
PRINCETON, N.J. – The Gazelle Group and Fox College Sports are pleased to announce an exclusive television partnership to broadcast the inaugural College Basketball Invitational.
“We are thrilled to be involved in this partnership with the Gazelle Group,” said Fox College Sports Director of Programming Max Casanova. “The College Basketball Invitational is an excellent opportunity for teams that don't make the NCAA Tournament to enjoy a postseason experience. As the home of college sports, we feel it is our obligation to provide these student-athletes national exposure.”
“We are excited to be working with Fox College Sports,” said Gazelle Group President Rick Giles. “They are a great partner and will enable fans across the country to watch all of our games. Fox College Sports has distinguished itself as one of the most successful and innovative networks geared towards collegiate athletics … and this will help fuel the growth of this tournament.”
In addition, fans will be able to watch games from the tournament in their local markets on Fox Sports Net (based on schedule availability) and DirecTV.
The College Basketball Invitational bracket will be announced on March 16th and will consist of 16 teams that are not selected for the NCAA Tournament. Teams will be invited based upon their performance during their conference and non-conference schedule, as well as how they are playing at the end of the regular season.
The event will be single-elimination, up until the Championship Series, with all games being played at campus sites. Prior to the Semi-finals, the four remaining teams will be re-seeded. The Championship Series will be a best of three series (home-away-home), in which the higher seed will get the first and last (if necessary) home games.
The College Basketball Invitational will feature:
March 18th and 19th
- A total of eight Opening Round games at campus sites
- Fox College Sports will broadcast LIVE two games each night at 7 p.m. and 9:00 p.m. ET
March 24th
- Four Quarterfinal Round games at campus sites
- Fox College Sports will broadcast LIVE two games at 7 p.m. and 9:00 p.m. ET
March 26th
- Two semi-final games on campus sites
- Both games to be broadcast LIVE on Fox College Sports at 7 p.m. and 9:00 p.m. ET
College Basketball Invitational Championship Series (March 31st, April 2nd & April 4th)
- All championship games LIVE on Fox College Sports at 8 p.m. ET
Bracketing will be done geographically into four regions of the country (East, West, South, Midwest) to minimize missed class time. Brackets will be balanced competitively within each region. This process will take place after the NCAA Tournament field is announced. Click here for a 2008 College Basketball Invitational bracket.
Fox College Sports (FCS) is three nationally distributed college sports networks (FCS Pacific, FCS Central, and FCS Atlantic) stocked with premium collegiate programming from across the country. FCS features men's and women's competitions across a broad range of NCAA-sanctioned sports highlighted by perennial powers from the ACC, Big 12, Pac 10, SEC, as well as other top conferences. The three networks combine to telecast more than 800 live NCAA events over the course of a year. Based on current distribution agreements, FCS is available to approximately 52 million digital homes, and is seen by viewers in the nation's 25 largest cities, including New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, San Francisco, Dallas and Atlanta, Houston, Seattle, Minneapolis and Tampa. Key MSO partners include Comcast Corp., Time Warner Cable, Charter Communications, Cox Communications, Cablevision Systems, Adelphia Communications, Mediacom Communications, Insight Communications and CableOne and the National Cable Television Cooperative. The most up-to-date telecast schedule is available 24/7 by logging on to www.foxcollegesports.com.
The Gazelle Group is a sports marketing firm, specializing in event production and management, client representation, and sponsorship consulting, based in Princeton, N.J. Gazelle produces numerous nationally-recognized events, such as the 2K Sports College Hoops Classic benefiting Coaches vs. Cancer, the O'Reilly Auto Parts CBE Classic and the Legends Classic. For more information on the Gazelle Group, please visit www.gazellegroup.com.
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