ESPN Secures Live Streaming Rights to New Basketball ‘Jamboree’ Play-In Tournament

ESPN has secured the live streaming rights to The Basketball Tournament’s (TBT) new Jamboree play-in tournament, which will give 16 additional teams a shot at a winner-take-all $2 million prize. The Jamboree games will take place June 17-18 at Philadelphia University, with all games streaming live on ESPN3 and the ESPN app. Teams can enter now atjamboree.thetournament.com, for a chance to compete for the final four slots in the field of 64.

TBT features 64 teams of professional, college alumni, and international basketball players competing in a single-elimination 5-on-5 tournament for a winner-take-all $2 million prize. All games will air on ESPN networks, beginning Saturday, July 8. Adding the Jamboree games, ESPN will carry up to 150 live hours of TBT action across its networks, with 30 live hours on ESPN or ESPN2.

The Jamboree games will feature the “Elam Ending,” experimental new rules designed by Nick Elam to reduce deliberate fouling at the end of games. At the first dead ball after the 4-minute mark, the game clock will shut off and a Target Score – determined by adding 7 points to the leading team’s score at the time of the dead ball – will be established. At that point, the game clock remains turned off and first team to reach that score wins.

“TBT is a great event that will give fans the chance to enjoy even more live basketball on ESPN during the summer months, and the Jamboree games will be particularly compelling with these innovative new rules being used in real competition,” says John Lasker, Vice President of Digital Media Programming, ESPN.

“We’re thrilled to see our relationship with ESPN grow even further with the addition of the Jamboree games,” says Jonathan Mugar, Founder and CEO of TBT. “We created the Jamboree due to popular demand, with so many teams looking to compete in TBT. And these games will truly be unlike any basketball we’ve ever seen before, thanks to the new Elam Ending.”

One Jamboree team will qualify for each of the four regional TBT competitions, to be held in Charlotte, Philadelphia, Las Vegas and at Bradley University between July 8-16. The Super 16 and Regional Championships will be held in New York July 20-23, with the semifinals and Championship to be held in Baltimore at Coppin State University, August 1-3.

Now in its fourth year, TBT has attracted some of the best basketball in the world. In 2016, 63 recent NBA players competed, and 20 teams were composed of alumni from Division I programs including Villanova, Gonzaga, Kentucky, Syracuse, Michigan State, and Memphis. Overseas Elite, a team put together by a CAA agent consisting of his clients, won for the second year in a row.

Entry into TBT is free, with an application period that runs from April 1, 2017 through June 1, 2017. Teams compete for spots in the tournament by soliciting votes from fans and supporters via social media. Applicants must be 18 or older and willing to forego their amateur status. For more information, visit www.TheTournament.com.