Duke coach Jon Scheyer is discovering new and creative methods to uplift school basketball’s nonconference schedule — and getting paid some huge cash whereas doing so.
The college introduced Thursday that it’s going to play three high-profile non-league video games at impartial websites for the 2026-27 season, with a groundbreaking twist. Amazon Prime Video will broadcast the video games. This marks the primary time that the streaming service, which already carries NFL and NBA rights, will step into the faculty basketball world.
Amazon will carry these three video games subsequent season:
- Nov. 25: Duke vs. Connecticut in Las Vegas (T-Cellular Area)
- Dec. 21: Duke vs. Michigan in New York (Madison Sq. Backyard)
- Feb. 20: Duke vs. Gonzaga in Detroit (Little Caesars Area)
Duke, UConn, Michigan and Gonzaga are all poised to be preseason top-10 groups, making the matchups among the many most notable in school hoops heading into subsequent fall.
Past the compelling nature of the non-con video games, the enterprise association can also be unprecedented. The Duke/Amazon partnership is a multiyear settlement and the NIL alternatives for Duke might be large — within the tens of millions yearly — sources advised CBS Sports activities. The truth is, different occasion organizers had been pursuing Duke for important nonconference video games, sources mentioned, however none of these might match the payouts that may include Prime Video’s package deal. There may be additionally the benefit of with the ability to independently management the groups. Due to that, Scheyer aggressively pursued the revolutionary deal for months. He has been among the many most distinguished tone-setters in bold nonconference scheduling since he took over this system in 2022.
All the offers have not been finalized and signed, however sources mentioned Duke’s opponents will make north of $500,000 for taking part in within the video games. (Duke, because the organizer and Prime Video’s associate, will make rather more.)
On the printed aspect, Duke is a member of the ACC, which has a long-term tv rights cope with ESPN. The workaround Duke managed was to play non-ACC video games in cities (Las Vegas, Detroit) the place the ACC doesn’t have automated/default broadcast rights as a result of it doesn’t have member faculties in these areas. Madison Sq. Backyard technically falls below that jurisdiction as a result of Syracuse, an ACC crew, is within the state of New York, however ESPN and Duke got here to phrases on making an exception — with a compromise. ESPN negotiated Duke into future nonconference video games later this decade in alternate for permitting the NYC matchup with Michigan.
“In partnership with the ACC’s main media associate, ESPN, and in alternate for the pliability to take part on this Prime Video sequence of nonconference video games, Duke has dedicated to take part in choose further ESPN owned and operated males’s basketball neutral-site occasions throughout the 2027-28 and 2028-29 seasons,” Duke mentioned in its press launch. “Precise particulars might be introduced at a later date.”
The tip instances for the three video games are to be decided. The Gonzaga tilt in Detroit was intentional: That metropolis is the positioning of subsequent season’s males’s Last 4, marking the primary time Detroit will host school basketball’s grand occasion since 2009. The sport towards Michigan just isn’t solely a battle towards the reigning nationwide champs, however it’s additionally a rematch of February’s main non-con battle in Washington, D.C. that Duke gained 73-72.
The Connecticut recreation is especially compelling. The 2 faculties have been engaged for the higher a part of a yr on scheduling one another, sources advised CBS Sports activities, and Scheyer opted to maintain transferring ahead with the sport even after his crew blew a 19-point lead within the Elite Eight and misplaced in crushing trend within the last second after Cayden Boozer’s turnover led to Braylon Mullins‘ game-winning 3. Each these gamers might be again at their respective faculties subsequent season, making the Duke-UConn matchup one of many premier tilts of the primary two months of the season.