Arizona Wildcats Men's Basketball Set for 2027 Four Team Showcase in Las Vegas
The Arizona Wildcats men’s basketball team is heading to Vegas.
The Associated Press recently announced that Arizona will join three other premiers in a college basketball showcase at the NFL stadium, home of the Las Vegas Raiders.
The four teams—the Duke Blue Devils, Indiana Hoosiers, Kansas Jayhawks, and Arizona—will play a doubleheader at the stadium during the 2027 college basketball season.
Arizona will face Duke in the matchups between the two powerhouses. The showcase, which will be named the Hall of Fame Series at Allegiant Stadium, will occur on November 12, 2027.
The showcase will introduce the Raiders stadium to the college basketball landscape for the 2027 campaign, as it will also be the location for the 2028 Final Four at the season's end.
"We're starting the season here and ending the season here at Allegiant Stadium," said Steve Hill, president and CEO of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.
If the four teams are anything like they are now in 2027, the showcase will be a must-watch television. Entering this season, all four schools are ranked in the preseason AP Top 25, with Kansas leading the way as the number-one team in the country. Duke will start the year at seven, Arizona at 10, and 17 for Indiana.
Wildcats fans will not have to wait until the beginning of the 2027 season to see the matchup between Arizona and Duke, however, as the two will square off on November 22nd at the McKale Memorial Center. In fact, the program will finish its regular season in Lawrence against the Jayhawks on March 8th.
According to the release, the LVCVA has a five-year deal for college basketball games to be featured in Las Vegas. Melissa Meacham-Grossman, president of Position Sports, who runs the Hall of Fame Series at the same time the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame enshrines its newest members, states that the 2027 series is likely to be the only one at the NFL stadium, with plans to move it elsewhere in the following years. She did express the possibility of it returning to Alligent Stadium in the future.
The Wildcats will head to Paradise Island, Bahamas, to be a part of the Battle 4 Atlantis this season as their only showcase in-season tournament this year. The three games will occur from November 27-29. The program will open its season next Monday, November 4th, at home against Canisius University.
