Duke-Michigan Hoops Moving to MLB Ballpark to Skirt Rights Issue

The upcoming Duke-Michigan men’s basketball matchup—scheduled for Dec. 21 at Madison Square Garden and broadcast on Amazon Prime Video—is in the process of being moved to loanDepot Park, the home ballpark of MLB’s Marlins, multiple sources confirmed to Front Office Sports.

The ostensible purpose of the move is to circumvent the Big Ten’s media-rights deal with primary partner Fox by relocating from New York—which is on the outer edge of conference territory due to Rutgers—to Florida, where the Big Ten does not have a footprint.

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Discussions about the baseball stadium hosting the ACC–Big Ten hoops clash are far along but not yet finalized, and no contracts have been signed, according to sources.

CBS Sports first reported the news of the unprecedented move Wednesday night.

The matchup is the second game of a non-conference series between the two heavyweights. This past February, Duke and Michigan squared off at Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C.

The Big Ten was “miffed” about the arrangement between Duke, Michigan, and Amazon, Yahoo Sports previously reported, and was said to have notified the ACC and ESPN that it retained the rights to the non-conference Duke-Michigan basketball game.

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On April 30, Duke announced a multiyear deal with Amazon Prime Video for the streamer to exclusively broadcast three marquee neutral-site nonconference men’s basketball games per season. Included in that was Duke’s Dec. 21 game against Michigan at Madison Square Garden.

Last month, ACC commissioner Jim Phillips said he supported Duke’s Amazon deal, despite the reported pushback from the Big Ten. “To Duke’s credit, they came up with something creative and they brought it to ESPN and us,” Phillips said.

Amazon and the ACC did not object to the move, sources told FOS, and the streamer remains excited for its entry into college sports.

The matchup would mark the first college basketball game played at loanDepot Park, which found success hosting…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/duke-michigan-move-msg-mlb-154656075.html

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Publish date : 2026-06-04 15:46:00

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