| College Basketball on TNT Sports | |
|---|---|
| Genre | College basketball telecasts |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 15 |
| Production | |
| Camera setup | Multi-camera |
| Running time | 120 minutes or until end of game |
| Production companies |
|
| Original release | |
| Network | |
| Release | 1982 (1982) – 1983 (1983) |
| Release | March 15, 2011 (2011-03-15) – present |
| Related | |
| NCAA March Madness | |
College Basketball on TNT Sports is the de facto title ofcollege basketball coverage produced byTNT Sports forTNT,TBS,TruTV andNBA TV. As of the 2024–25 season, TNT Sports airs coverage of theNCAA Division I men's basketball tournament,Acrisure Classic,Acrisure Holiday Invitational, andPlayers Era Festival.
On December 11, 1982, TBS[1][2] (with theaid of more than 100 independentnetwork affiliates andstations[3]) broadcast a contest betweenVirginia andGeorgetown[4][5][6] (led byRalph Sampson andPatrick Ewing[7] respectively). The game in question (in which TBS paid approximately US$600,000[8] for the broadcasting rights) was called bySkip Caray[9] andAbe Lemons. On November 26, 1983, TBS broadcast a contest betweenKentucky andLouisville. TBS, in a joint venture withSports Productions Inc. of Dallas, paid $600,000 for the rights to the game.[10] Skip Caray andJoe Dean were on the call of the game.[11]
On April 22, 2010, theNational Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) reached a 14-year agreement,[12] worthUS$10.8 billion, with CBS and theTurner Broadcasting System to receive joint broadcast rights to the Division I men's college basketball tournament.[13] This came after speculation thatESPN would try to obtain the rights to future tournament games.[14] The NCAA took advantage of an opt-out clause in its 1999 deal with CBS (which ran through 2013, even though the NCAA had the option of ending the agreement after the2010 championship) to announce its intention to sign a new contract with CBS andTurner Sports, The new contract came amid serious consideration by the NCAA of expanding the tournament to 68 teams.
The agreement, which runs through 2032 (extended from 2024 in 2016),[15] stipulates that all games are available nationally. All First Four games air ontruTV. During the first and second rounds, a featured game in each time "window" is broadcast terrestrially on CBS (15 games), while all other games are shown onTBS (12 games),TNT (12 games) or truTV (nine exclusive games, from 2024 on select TNT and/or TBS games may get a simulcast on TruTV when that network is not airing any games). Sweet 16 (regional semifinal) and Elite 8 (regional finals) games are split among CBS and TBS. In 2014 and 2015, Turner channels had exclusive rights to the Final Four (with standard coverage airing on TBS), and CBS broadcast the championship game. Since 2016, rights to the Final Four and championship game alternate between Turner and CBS; the 2016 tournament marked the first time that the national championship game was not broadcast on over-the-air television.[16]
In 2011, TruTV acquired the rights to the preseasonCoaches vs. Cancer Classic, beginning with 2012. The tournament was the first regular season games aired by TNT Sports since 1983. The tournament was discontinued after the 2014 edition.[17]
Regular season basketball produced by TNT Sports returned during the2020–21 season.NBA TV, which is operated by TNT Sports, televised 2 college basketball games as part of a doubleheader on February 22, 2021. The telecasts featured both men's and women's college basketball games betweenJackson State University and Grambling State University and were the first college basketball games ever on the network.[18]
Prior to the2021–22 season, TNT Sports expanded its HBCU coverage when it reached an agreement to air the Invesco QQQ Legacy Classic, a two-game event featuring four HBCU teams, on TNT. Also, as part of itsNBA All-Star Game coverage, NBA TV began producing the NBA-HBCU Classic game, which is also simulcast on TNT and ESPN2.[19] In 2022, NBA TV also aired four other regular season games from theSWAC. On February 5, 2022, NBA aired a doubleheader of men's and women's college basketball games betweenFlorida A&M University andTexas Southern University. On February 12, 2022, NBA aired a doubleheader of Men's and Women's college basketball games between Texas Southern University andGrambling State University.[20] The NBA-HBCU Classic game, which will continue to air on NBA TV, moved to TruTV andESPN+ for the 2025 edition.[21] It will move toNBC Sports in 2026 as part of NBC's new NBA contract.[22]
In 2023, TNT and TruTV began airing theHall of Fame Series from Las Vegas. The four game event features two early afternoon games on TruTV and two primetime games on TNT. Two of the four games featuredWomen's college basketball, which had never aired on TNT or TruTV prior to 2023.[23] The event was reduced to two games, one women's and one men's, for the 2024 edition.[24] In 2024, TNT and TruTV will also air one game from theHall of Fame Series in Baltimore.[25]
On June 27, 2024, TNT Sports announced that they had reached a six-year agreement with theBig East Conference, joining incumbentFox and newcomerNBC, to air men's and women's college basketball games on their platforms, marking the first time TNT Sports will hold rights to air college basketball games for a specific conference. TNT will air more than 65 games (more that 50 men's basketball games and at least 15 women's basketball games) over the course of the six-year deal. While most games will air on TNT, select games will air on TBS and TruTV, with all games available onMax.[26]
On August 22, 2024, TNT Sports announced it had acquired the rights to theAcrisure Classic. As part of the agreement, 19 men's and women's basketball games over four days will air on TruTV and stream on Max.[27] On September 10, 2024, TNT Sports announced it had acquired the rights to thePlayers Era Festival, with 12 games airing on TNT, TBS, TruTV or Max.[28]
Starting with the2025–26 season, TNT Sports will have the rights to air games from theBig 12 Conference as part of a sublicense fromESPN. In return, ESPN will have the rights to air TNT's NBA studio showInside the NBA.[29]