Champions Classic renewed for three more years
BRISTOL, Conn. – ESPN has announced that the State Farm Champions Classic – the neutral site doubleheader series featuring men’s basketball powerhouses Kansas, Duke, Kentucky and Michigan State – will be renewed for three additional years rotating through the cities of Chicago (2017), Indianapolis (2018) and New York City (2019). Kansas will play Kentucky in 2017, Michigan State in 2018 and Duke in 2019.
The inaugural Champions Classic was held at Madison Square Garden in New York City in 2011 followed by the Georgia Dome in Atlanta in 2012 and Banker’s Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis in 2013. In 2011, Kansas and Kentucky’s Champions Classic meeting eventually became the matchup for the 2012 NCAA National Championship title game in New Orleans.
In Nov. 2013, the Champions Classic was renewed for three years with games in Indianapolis, Chicago and New York City. KU is 1-4 in the Champions Classic having defeated Duke, 94-83, in 2013 in Chicago. Kentucky, Duke and Michigan State are each 3-2 in the event.
Kansas will face Duke in the sixth annual Champions Classic on Tuesday, Nov. 15, 2016, at 8:30 p.m. (Central) in historic Madison Square Garden in New York City on ESPN. The game will follow the Kentucky-Michigan State contest set to tip at 6 p.m. Duke is No. 1 by many preseason prognosticators, while Kansas is in most every top-five ranking.
The Champions Classic will continue to be the finishing contests of ESPN’s College Hoops Tip-Off Marathon that provides more than 24 hours of consecutive basketball coverage to mark the start of the college basketball season.
Future Champions Classic Matchups
Tuesday, Nov. 14, 2017 (United Center, Chicago)
KANSAS vs. Kentucky
Duke vs. Michigan State
Tuesday, Nov. 13, 2018 (Bankers Life Fieldhouse, Indianapolis)
Michigan State vs. KANSAS
Duke vs. Kentucky
Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2019 (Madison Square Garden, New York City)
KANSAS vs. Duke
Michigan State vs. Kentucky
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