Arizona, Connecticut, Gonzaga, Kansas, Kentucky, Indiana, Michigan, and North Carolina are in discussions to participate in the Diamond Cup that would begin play in November 2027, according to Matt Norlander of CBS Sports.
Per Norlander, Duke was also in discussions to take part in the Diamond Cup, but withdrew after signing a three-game contract with Amazon Prime that begins later this year. Per Norlander, the Diamond Cup was "concocted" by former St. John's athletic director Mike Cragg, Former Nike executive Eric Lautenbach and former DraftKings and television executive Ezra Kucharz.
Norlander reported that Cragg also worked at Duke for over three decades, and Lautenbach developed significant relationships at the college level over decades. Per Norlander, the trio has connected with the William Morris Endeavor basketball division and IMG in media advisory roles per CBS Sports.
"Intersport, one of the premier organizations in college athletics for game operations, has agreed to be a partner for ticketing, marketing and logistics, a source added" per Norlander. According to Norlander, the participants would receive a stake in the Diamond Cup.
Breaking—A huge new event is in the works involving a majority of CBB's blue bloods, sources tell @CBSSports. It's called the Diamond Cup. The debut is planned for 2027. It's a major, unprecedented scheduling idea. Can it all come together? Let's hope so. https://t.co/GSukG6ojoJ
— Matt Norlander (@MattNorlander) May 20, 2026
Norlander stated that "Diamond Cup organizers define their new competition "as a premium, scalable, made-for-media college basketball franchise built to redefine the regular season. It delivers guaranteed blue-chip brands, premium viewership and serialized national narratives across multiple cities."
The Diamond Cup would be the latest early-season College Basketball Event. Early season events have been shifting, led by the The Players Era Tournament. An increase in the number of regular-season college basketball games from 31 to 32 games has helped the multi-team events.
Teams can play one more game per season without being limited to adding them in the multi-team events. Per Norlander, another restriction that has been lifted for the multi-team events is that more than one team from the same conference can participate in the same event within a four-year window.
Many of the multi-team events had teams committed before conference realignment. The relaxation of restrictions has allowed prominent non-conference tournaments to feature diverse regional powerhouses, per Norlander.
Diamond Cup planning for two-game event around Thanksgiving in 2027, per sources. If it can grow to a four-game format for '28, Round 1 would be exhibitions, Rd 2 would open the season, Rds 3/4 would surround T'giving to determine a winner, with final day being quadruple-header.
— Matt Norlander (@MattNorlander) May 21, 2026
Multi-team events where teams play two games must conclude within five days. The multi-team events where teams play three games must conclude within 10 days of the first game. Before the Players Era festival was created, most multi-team events featured four or eight teams with a bracket format and consolation games.
Teams from the same conference, among the above teams, are Arizona and Indiana and Michigan and Indiana, would not be scheduled against each other. The change in NCAA rules regarding multi-team events would benefit the proposed Diamond Cup.
Teams are expected to play two regular-season games in the inaugural Diamond Cup in 2027-28. In 2028-29 the Diamond Cup is expected to be three regular-season games and one in the preseason that would count towards pool play records.
The eight schools initially contacted in 2025 for the Diamond Cup were told that they could make about $17 million over the terms of the contract if an ideal media rights deal was sold. That number has since been altered to $2.25 million in the first year and $3.75 million per school in the second and third years.
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