The Basketball Tournament was a massive success in its 2016 debut; the Overseas Elite won the tournament, taking home the $1,000,000 reward. The Basketball Tournament will take place once again this year, and the Tournament has signed a multi-year extension with ESPN:
The Basketball Tournament (TBT) and ESPN today announced a multi-year extension of their exclusive multiplatform broadcast rights agreement, with ESPN committing to increasing coverage of the fast-growing event, which features 64 teams of top professional, college alumni, and international basketball players competing in a single-elimination 5-on-5 tournament for a winner-take-all $2 million prize.
“It’s exciting that ESPN recognizes the power of TBT to reach the new age, young, sports audience. What started as a fun idea among friends has grown into a major, annual basketball event,” said Jonathan Mugar, Founder and CEO of TBT. “ESPN has been a tremendous supporter of TBT since the beginning, and we’re thrilled to continue our relationship with ESPN increasing its coverage and promotion to help us reach even more fans.”
“The TBT audience on ESPN continues to grow, particularly among younger demos, and it’s great competition with former college and NBA players competing against everyday athletes for a big prize,” said Burke Magnus, ESPN Executive Vice President, Programming & Scheduling. “We are proud to continue ESPN’s association with TBT and offer even more exposure of the event this summer.”
…
As part of the new agreement, ESPN has committed to airing at least 15 TBT games on ESPN or ESPN2 in 2017 (up from nine in 2016). All 63 games will air on ESPN networks, beginning Saturday, July 8.
$200,000 of the $2 million prize money will go to the winning team’s top 100 fans.
For those who aren’t familiar with how the Tournament works: 64 teams of elite talent – primarily former NBA players, overseas professional talent and college hoops alumni – compete in a March Madness-esque-formatted tournament. The winning team takes home the prize money.
