Once the SEC moves exclusively to ESPN, can UK basketball play in the CBS Sports Classic?
The gale-force winds of change that have roiled the business of major college sports in recent years could impact the future of the CBS Sports Classic.
On Saturday at Atlanta’s State Farm Arena, the annual men’s hoops doubleheader in which Kentucky, North Carolina, Ohio State and UCLA participate will celebrate its 10th anniversary. In this year’s renewal, UCLA (5-3) will face Ohio State (8-2) and No. 14 UK (7-2) will then battle No. 9 UNC (7-2).
The immediate future of the CBS Sports Classic is not in question. The four participating schools have contractually agreed to continue to participate in the event through the 2026-27 season.
According to the most recent addendum to the University of Kentucky’s contract to play in the CBS Sports Classic, which the Herald-Leader obtained via an open-records request, UK will receive a combined $1 million ($250,000 for each year pending on the deal) for its participation in the remaining four events on the pact.
Yet two of the forces that have driven foundational change in big-time college athletics — the consolidation of league television rights and conference realignment — have created some uncertainty around the long-term path of the CBS Sports Classic.
After the current school year, the Southeastern Conference will cease to have a contractual relationship with CBS. Starting in 2024-25, ESPN/ABC will be the sole major national rights holder of SEC content.
Given that reality, can SEC member Kentucky still participate in the CBS Sports Classic after the 2023-24 season?
Due to conference realignment, Big Ten member Ohio State and UCLA, currently in its final year in the Pac-12, will both be in the Big Ten starting in 2024-25.
Can the CBS Sports Classic continue with two teams from the same league as opposed to the current format, with one team each from four different conferences?
Bear with me, and I can answer the first of the two above questions definitively.
Kentucky, of course, is a long-running participant in two one-day classics featuring traditional men’s college hoops powers. In 2011-12, UK began participating in the ESPN-owned Champions Classic along with Duke, Kansas and Michigan State.
Two years later, Kentucky became part of the CBS Sports Classic with three other iconic men’s hoops brands.
Both the Champions Classic and the CBS Sports Classic are contested on neutral courts in major markets. Prior to Atlanta this year, the CBS Sports Classic has been played in New York City, Las Vegas, Cleveland, Chicago, New Orleans and Brooklyn.
Meanwhile, the Champions Classic has rotated among Chicago, New York and Indianapolis with a one-year stop in Atlanta.
That neutral-court reality has created mixed feelings for some UK backers toward the annual doubleheaders. While many Wildcats fans are grateful to have two guaranteed games a season against other blue-blood programs, some Cats backers — especially those with Rupp Arena season tickets — lament that the Classic formats have kept so many Kentucky contests with high-profile foes out of Lexington.
(The fact that UK has lost three of its last four games in the CBS Sports Classic and six of its last seven in the Champions Classic probably contributes to Kentucky fan ambivalence toward the events).
As to whether UK’s future in the CBS Sports Classic will be negatively impacted by the impending divorce between the Southeastern Conference and the network, the answer is no. SEC associate commissioner Herb Vincent says it is accepted practice in men’s college basketball that schools can play in multi-team, neutral-court events regardless of who holds the broadcast rights.
Examples abound. Atlantic Coast Conference member North Carolina plays in the CBS Sports Classic even though the ACC has no relationship with CBS. The Big Ten’s Purdue played three games on ESPN platforms from this year’s Maui Invitational even though that conference and the Worldwide Leader have ceased doing business together.
“Kentucky can play in the CBS Sports Classic as long as it wishes,” Vincent says.
What the implications are for the CBS Sports Classic from the fact that UCLA and Ohio State will soon both be Big Ten members are less clear.
Though sites are not listed on the UK contract with the CBS Sports Classic, the future pairings and dates for the event are slated to be:
▪ Dec. 21, 2024: UK vs. Ohio State; UNC vs. UCLA;
▪ Dec. 20, 2025: UK vs. UCLA; UNC vs. Ohio State;
▪ Dec. 19, 2026: UK vs. UNC; UCLA vs. Ohio State.
It would seem that a pairing of two Big Ten opponents would undermine the original paradigm of the event. For the 2026-27 CBS Sports Classic, it’s possible the matchups could be flipped to avoid UCLA vs. Ohio State.
Beyond the existing contract, who knows? Do you subtract one of the Big Ten teams or ask Ohio State and UCLA each to rotate on three-year terms and then invite a meritorious program from another conference (say Villanova or Connecticut from the Big East) to permanently join the CBS Sports Classic?
It is not presently clear what having two teams in the same conference among the four annual CBS Sports Classic participants will mean for the event.
What we do know is that, if the present rotation of team pairings is maintained, the powers-that-be running the CBS Sports Classic and the four participating schools would seem to have a couple of years to figure that out.
CBS Sports Classic records
North Carolina 6-3
Ohio State 4-4-*
Kentucky 4-5
UCLA 3-5-*
* — Ohio State and UCLA did not participate in 2021-22 due to COVID-19 protocols.
Saturday
No. 14 Kentucky vs. No. 9 North Carolina
What: CBS Sports Classic
When: About 5:30 p.m. (following a game between Ohio State and UCLA that starts at 3 p.m. on the same court)
Where: State Farm Arena in Atlanta
TV: CBS-27
Radio: WLAP-AM 630, WBUL-FM 98.1
Records: Kentucky 7-2, North Carolina 7-2
Series: North Carolina leads 25-17
Last meeting: Kentucky won 98-69 on Dec. 17, 2021, at the CBS Sports Classic in Las Vegas
First Scouting Report: In battle of blue bloods, can UK subdue UNC?
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