PHILADELPHIA (AP) -The Atlantic 10 will move its men’s basketball tournament championship game to CBS in 2010 and play first-round games at campus sites.
Under a deal announced Tuesday, the 14-team league’s championship game will be played on the same Sunday that the NCAA tournament field is announced. Previous championship games were played on Saturdays and broadcast on an ESPN network.
This season’s tournament is being played in Atlantic City, N.J. Like previous seasons, the top 12 teams will play all the tourney games there, with the top four seeds getting an opening-round bye.
Beginning in 2010, the four opening-round games will be played at the campuses of the higher seeds. Winners of the first-round games will play in quarterfinals at the tournament site, which the league hasn’t yet announced.
“Allowing four institutions to host an opening-round championship game will generate enthusiasm throughout the footprint of the Atlantic 10,” A-10 commissioner Bernadette McGlade said. “This hybrid format presents the best of all worlds: allowing teams to host midweek opening-round games, which are always an attendance challenge, and subsequently advancing all to a common championship site on a traditional weekend schedule of Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.”
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