CBS Sports is bringing together Kentucky, North Carolina, Ohio State and UCLA, for a new early season college basketball showcase, the CBS Sports Classic. Or basically, their answer to ESPN’s “Champions Classic.”
This has been in the works for some time. When covering the Champions Classic last year, we heard there was a second arrangement of this sport in the works. We knew this past December about the other three teams, other than Ohio State.
And we didn’t know the name of the event or the network it would be on yet. Otherwise we would have ran with it.
CBS Sports will broadcast a doubleheader in 2014, 2015, and 2016 featuring these four elite programs playing each other once in a round-robin format.
The event debuts RIGHT HERE at the United Center in Chicago on Dec. 20, 2014. North Carolina will take on Ohio State at 12:00 PM noon, followed by UCLA vs. Kentucky at 2:30. So I’m pretty excited. Not so much about the getting up early part, but everything else that’s involved with this game.
The event moves to Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y. on December 19, 2015, and then travels to Las Vegas, Nev. in December 2016.
These four schools have combined to win 25 National Championships and are among the winningest college basketball programs of all-time.
“We are excited to bring these powerhouse programs together for a tremendous early season showcase,” said Dan Weinberg, Senior Vice President, Programming, CBS Sports. “From its debut next season, the CBS Sports Classic will be a marquee event, adding to our already deep college basketball schedule.”
Kentucky is the only team that is playing in both the Champions Classic and the CBS Sports Classic.
Paul M. Banks owns The Sports Bank.net, an affiliate of Fox Sports. A frequent analyst on national talk radio, Banks is a former contributor to NBC Chicago and the Washington Times, He’s even been featured on the History Channel. President Obama follows him on Twitter (@paulmbanks)