In the ages when multi-team neutral court events are shrinking because of the way it can interfere with NIL and mega-conference affiliation, it was worth wondering how much longer the CBS Sports Classic — which UNC has played in since 2014 — would continue.
On Wednesday we got our answer: at least until 2029.
We also got several other answers on Wednesday. We now know that the event will be back in Madison Square Garden for 2026 — as it almost seems like the event is rotating between Atlanta and New
York City at this point — and we know that Kansas has permanently replaced UCLA as the fourth team with Kentucky, North Carolina, and Ohio State. St. John’s filled that role this past year, as UCLA and Ohio State are now both in the Big Ten.
Oh, and we also learned what the actual matchups will be for the next four years.
This is a huge win for fans. Since the pandemic, who Carolina would play at this event had been up in the air. Fans basically waited on pins and needles to know what one of the big non-conference matchups would be. Now we know the order will be Kentucky, Kansas, Ohio State, and Kentucky. That means Carolina will be playing Kentucky in at minimum back-to-back seasons, and they’ll be playing Kansas three out of the last four. It’s those type of matchups that fans have been hoping for in a world where college basketball has moved further away from tradition.
The other huge win, of course, is adding Kansas. There’s little doubt why the Jayhawks weren’t in the original event — Roy Williams likely wasn’t going to participate if Kansas was involved, and the powers that be wanted the potential of the occasional UNC/Kentucky matchup. Now annually they’ll either get a Kentucky/UNC matchup, UNC/Kansas matchup, or Kentucky/Kansas matchup. Also don’t discount the power of Ohio State, as the ratings for the school during the college football season will tell you.
This will also make it easier to figure out who Carolina won’t be playing in the ACC/SEC challenge, since the Tar Heels and Wildcats face off in ‘26 and ‘29. You can imagine that the schedule-makers will be gearing up to bring the Wildcats into Chapel Hill in ‘27 or ‘28, as they will want to return the favor for having the Tar Heels travel to Lexington.
It’s clear that, while the event has lost it’s place is a prestige late-December event as it competes with the first round of the College Football Playoffs and Saturday NFL games, it’s still enough of a big event for CBS to not only re-up the contract but to add another blue-blood to the lineup. This, along with their Thanksgiving games this past year, indicates a real interest by CBS to bolster their live sports, one of the few things that seems to cut through declining television viewership.
So, if you’re interested, go ahead and start making your plans for New York City.
