University of Minnesota Athletics
Tickets for 76 Classic Available Now
10/5/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Tickets for the third annual 76 Classic collegiate basketball event are now on sale, ESPN Regional Television, Inc. (ERT), a subsidiary of ESPN, announced today. The eight-team tournament will be held on Thanksgiving weekend, Nov. 26, 27 and 29, at the Arena of the Anaheim Convention Center, adjacent to Disneyland.
Joining the Gophers in the 76 Classic field will be Butler, Clemson, Long Beach State, Portland, Texas A&M, UCLA and West Virginia. Each team will compete in one game per day, advancing through a bracket-tournament format.
Seven of the eight teams reached the postseason in 2008-09, including six in the NCAA Tournament: UCLA and Texas A&M advanced to the second round, while Butler, Clemson, Minnesota and West Virginia were also in the field. No eight-team, regular-season tournament has ever had more than seven postseason teams from the previous year. The 2008 Old Spice Classic also had seven, while the EA Sports Maui Invitational has had seven postseason teams five times, most recently in 2004.
Tickets can be purchased at www.Ticketmaster.com or by calling 800-745-3000. Packages include all 12 games for $90 or single-session tickets for $20. Special travel package information can be found at www.GETTRAVEL.com.
In the first round of action Thursday, Nov. 26, West Virginia opens the 76 Classic against Long Beach State at 1:00 p.m. CT on ESPNU. Thursday's other three games will be televised live on ESPN2.
The two teams that remain undefeated throughout the tournament will face off in a championship match Sunday, Nov. 29, at 9:00 p.m. CT on ESPN2. The complete schedule can be found below
The Big West Conference will serve as the host for the 76 Classic at the 7,500-seat Anaheim Convention Center. The past two team champions of the event: USC in 2007 and Wake Forest in 2008.
Additional information can be found on the 76 Classic Web site at, www.76classic.com. For more information on Disneyland Resort, visit www.disneyland.com.
ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU Tournament Schedule:
(Home team listed second; Long Beach State will be home team in each of its games)
Date | Time (CT) | Matchup | Network |
Thu, Nov 26 | 1:00 p.m. | West Virginia vs. Long Beach State (Game 1) | ESPNU |
| | 3:30 p.m. | Texas A&M vs. Clemson (Game 2) | ESPN2 |
| | 7:30 p.m. | Minnesota vs. Butler (Game 3) | ESPN2 |
| | 9:30 p.m. | UCLA vs. Portland (Game 4) | ESPN2 |
Fri, Nov 27 | 1:30 p.m. | Game 5 | ESPN |
| | 4:00 p.m. | Game 6 | ESPNU |
| | 8:30 p.m. | Game 7 | ESPNU |
| | 10:30 p.m. | Game 8 | ESPNU |
Sun, Nov 29 | 1:30 p.m. | Game 9 | ESPNU |
| | 4:00 p.m. | Game 10 | ESPN2 |
| | 6:30 p.m. | Game 11 | ESPNU |
| | 9:00 p.m. | Game 12 (Championship Game) | ESPN2 |
ESPN Regional Television/Event Ownership
The nation's largest syndicator of collegiate sports programming, ESPN Regional Television (ERT) annually produces more than 1,000 telecasts of sporting events. Programming includes football, basketball, NCAA events, golf and NHRA events accounting for more than 2,200 live and/or original hours of programming. In addition to event ownership, ERT is the production headquarters for ESPNU, the 24-hour college sports network; syndication rights-holder and producer of national, regional and local shows for college conferences (e.g. - SEC, BIG EAST, Big 12, Mid-American, Sun Belt, WAC).
ESPN Regional Television markets and/or owns several sporting events, including collegiate football events: the Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl (Fort Worth, Texas); MAACO Bowl Las Vegas; New Mexico Bowl (Albuquerque); Papajohns.com Bowl (Birmingham, Ala.); Sheraton Hawai'i Bowl (Honolulu); St. Petersburg Bowl; the MEAC/SWAC Challenge presented by Disney (Orlando, Fla.); and The Home Depot ESPNU College Football Awards; collegiate basketball events: the 76 Classic (Anaheim, Calif.); Charleston Classic (S.C.); ESPNU Road to the Championship (Women; San Antonio); Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic (Honolulu); Old Spice Classic (Walt Disney World Resort near Orlando, Fla.); O'Reilly Auto Parts Puerto Rico Tip-Off (San Juan); SEC/BIG EAST Invitational; All-College Classic (Oklahoma City) and BracketBusters; as well as the ESPN National Golf Challenge presented by Callaway. For more information, visit ESPNPlus.com.