TBT to Return to Eight Regional Sites and Dayton for Championship Weekend
BOSTON, Dec. 8, 2021 – The Basketball Tournament (TBT), the million dollar, winner-take-all event televised live on ESPN, today announced its dates, locations, and featured teams for TBT 2022, the ninth year of the event. Puma, Zelle, and E&J Brandy will continue to be presenting sponsors of The Basketball Tournament.
After hosting regionals in four cities across the country last summer, TBT will be expanding to eight regional locations in 2022.
Creighton University, University of Dayton, New Mexico University, Wichita State University, and Xavier University have all signed on as regional host partners, with their respective alumni teams serving as the featured teams in those locations.
Boeheim’s Army, the Syracuse alumni team and defending TBT champion, will host a regional in Syracuse. Charleston, West Virginia will host a regional featuring alumni teams from West Virginia and Marshall University. The University of Dayton, which hosted TBT’s 2021 Championship Weekend, will host Championship Weekend again in 2022 in addition to a regional.
The eighth location will be revealed at a later date.
One team from each regional will advance to TBT’s quarterfinals. The winner of the Omaha Regional will play the winner of the Wichita Regional at Koch Arena in Wichita, Kansas on July 28, while the remaining six quarterfinalists will play at UD Arena in Dayton, Ohio July 29-30. The last two rounds will also be in Dayton, with the semifinals taking place on July 31. The $1 million winner-take-all championship game will be played Aug. 2 on ESPN.
“In our nine year history, we’ve never had a stronger group of host partners,” said TBT founder and CEO Jon Mugar. “After a successful 2021, we received a record number of bids to host, which is how we ended up with such an impressive lineup. We look forward to raucuous crowds and a tremendous championship game atmosphere in Dayton.”
Regional Host Cities
- Omaha, Neb. – headlines by Omaha Blue Crew (Creighton alumni) – July 16-19
- Albuquerque, N.M. – headlined by The Enchantment (New Mexico alumni) – July 18-21
- Cincinnati, Ohio – headlined by Zip ‘Em Up (Xavier alumni) – July 18-21
- Wichita, Kan. – headlined by AfterShocks (Wichita State alumni) – July 22-25
- Syracuse, N.Y. – headlined by Boeheim’s Army (Syracuse alumni) – July 22-25
- Charleston, W. Va. – headlined by Best Virginia (West Virginia alumni) and Herd That (Marshall alumni) – July 24-27
- Dayton, Ohio – headlined by Red Scare (Dayton alumni) – July 24-27
Quarterfinals
- Wichita – July 28
- Dayton – July 29-30
Championship Weekend in Dayton
- Semifinals – Sunday, July 31
- $1 Million, Winner-Take-All Championship – Tuesday, Aug. 2
TBT 2022 will once again feature an open-application process, allowing any team or group of players in the world to apply through thetournament.com April 1 – June 15. The 64-team, single-elimination bracket will be released in late June. The field is expected to consist of international pros, college alumni teams, ex-NBA players, future NBA players and others.
As always, TBT games will continue to feature the Elam Ending®, the end-of-game format adopted by the NBA All-Star game that eliminates the clock after a certain point and features teams playing to a Target Score.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">KEIFER SYKES FOR $1 MILLION!!!!!!!!!!!!<a href="https://twitter.com/BoeheimsArmy?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@BoeheimsArmy</a> IS YOUR TBT 2021 CHAMPIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!! <a href="https://t.co/tgAwO8tMpa">pic.twitter.com/tgAwO8tMpa</a></p>— TBT (@thetournament) <a href="https://twitter.com/thetournament/status/1422755324507787269?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 4, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>TBT crowned its eighth champion in 2021, as Boeheim’s Army defeated Team 23 in one of the most memorable games in TBT history. Keifer Sykes hit the game-winning three in the Elam Ending® to secure Boeheim’s Army’s first TBT championship. Notably, Sykes signed a contract with the Indiana Pacers shortly after the game. Boeheim’s Army’s victory was the third straight TBT championship won by a college alumni team, with Golden Eagles (Marquette alumni) and Carmen’s Crew (Ohio State alumni) winning the grand prize in previous years.
Tickets for all of TBT’s announced location are available now, and can be found at thetournament.com/tickets.