The College Basketball Invitational (CBI) is a men's

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

tournament created in 2007 by The Gazelle Group. The inaugural tournament occurred after the conclusion of the 2007–08 men's college basketball regular season. The CBI selects sixteen teams that are not selected for the

NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament The NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, branded as March Madness, or The Big Dance, is a single-elimination tournament played in the United States to determine the men's college basketball national champion of the NCAA Division I, Di ...

or the

National Invitation Tournament The National Invitation Tournament (NIT) is an annual men's college basketball tournament operated by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Since 2023, all rounds of the tournament are played at various sites across the country whi ...

(NIT), and who are willing to pay a $27,500 entry fee to participate. In the CBI, prior to 2020 teams competed on home courts. After the post-COVID pandemic revival, the tournament has been staged at the Ocean Center in Daytona Beach, Florida. The CBI is a

single-elimination tournament A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, ...

(prior to 2021, the tournament was single elimination until the final two teams were determined, after which the championship was determined by a championship series with a best two-out-of-three format). Since the tournament's 2021 revival and adoption of the single-site format, the championship is also determined by a single game. In 2023, the CBI introduced NIL funding of $40,000 to be distributed in the following manner: $25,000 to the champion, $10,000 to the runner-up, and $2,500 to each semifinalist. While these tournaments provide a chance for teams to continue their season, they are often unpopular among higher-profile teams due to the stigma of playing in a tertiary tournament. In 2014, Indiana Hoosiers athletic director Fred Glass declined a CBI invitation. He expressed, "We're Indiana. We don't play in the CBI."

The inaugural CBI

The 2008 College Basketball Invitational was the first new postseason tournament since the

Collegiate Commissioners Association Tournament The National Commissioners Invitational Tournament was an eight-team postseason men's college basketball tournament run by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). It was introduced in 1974 as the Collegiate Commissioners Association T ...

in 1974. The opening round was played on March 18, 2008, and March 19, 2008, with the second round being played on March 24, 2008. The semifinals took place on March 26, 2008. The championship was a best-of-three series with games being played on March 31, April 2, and April 4, 2008. The bracketing was done in east, west, south and midwest regions.

Tulsa Tulsa ( ) is the second-most-populous city in the state of Oklahoma, after Oklahoma City, and the 48th-most-populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tul ...

was crowned the champion in the 2008 tournament.

Television

In the inaugural year, games were available in local markets on

DirecTV DirecTV, LLC is an American Multichannel television in the United States, multichannel video programming distributor based in El Segundo, California. Originally launched on June 17, 1994, its primary service is a digital Satellite television, s ...

and

Fox Sports Net Fox Sports Networks (FSN), formerly known as Fox Sports Net, was the collective name for a group of regional sports channels in the United States. Formed in 1996 by News Corporation, the networks were acquired by the Walt Disney Company on Mar ...

. The games could also be viewed on the official website. The 2009-2013 tournament broadcasts were changed to

HDNet AXS TV () is an American specialty television, cable television channel majority-owned by Canadian broadcaster Anthem Sports & Entertainment. It is devoted primarily to Music television, music-related programming (such as concert films, Document ...

with four first-round games, two quarterfinal games, both semifinal games, and all three championship games being broadcast (HDNet changed its name to AXS prior to the 2013 tournament).

CBS Sports Network CBS Sports Network (a.k.a. CBSSN) is an American digital cable and satellite television network owned by the CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global. When it launched in 2002 as the National College Sports Network (later College Sports ...

televised the 2014 and 2015 tournaments. On February 1, 2016, the CBI announced an exclusive television partnership with

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

to broadcast the Championship Series of the CBI.

ESPNU ESPNU is an American multinational digital cable and satellite sports television channel owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between the Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (which owns the remain ...

televised the best-of-three Championship Series from 2016 to 2019. The following is an overview and list of the announcers and television networks to broadcast the tournament.

Champions

Presenting sponsors

*2008–2010: ''none'' *2011–2012: Zebra Pen *2013:

Buick Buick () is a division (business), division of the Automotive industry in the United States, American automobile manufacturer General Motors (GM). Started by automotive pioneer David Dunbar Buick in 1899, it was among the first American automobil ...

*2014–2016: ''none'' *2017: Five Four *2019, 2021–2022, 2024: Roman/Ro *2023:

Discount Tire The Reinalt-Thomas Corporation, doing business as Discount Tire and America's Tire, is an American tire and wheel retailer. It operates in 38 of the lower 48 states, and headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona. Founded in 1960, it is considered ...

*2025: Purple Innovation

References

External links