ESPN cancels Orlando events; Champions Classic could move to Indianapolis

With roughly a month before the start of the college basketball season, teams that were scheduled to make a trip to Orlando for “bubbled” events are now looking for another place to play.

The Kentucky Wildcats were scheduled to play in the Champions Classic in a “bubble” setting in Orlando. However, those plans have now been scrapped.

According to Seth Davis, there were ongoing differences between ESPN and the participating schools that led to ESPN deciding to scrap the whole plan. The hopes are still to play the Champions Classic just in another location

Here is more on the situation from The Athletic:

“The plans broke down mainly because ESPN was trying to abide by guidelines handed down by the Centers for Disease Control and the NCAA, which are more restrictive than the protocols many conferences are planning to implement. The biggest point of contention was ESPN’s desire to stick by the guideline stating that anyone who has tested positive for coronavirus must be re-tested after that person has been clear for 90 days. Several schools balked at the idea of retesting players that soon. “The 90-day testing protocol became the key sticking point,” Overby said. “Once we laid that out there were individual schools who couldn’t agree because their conference rules are more open-ended with respect to when you test someone again who has contracted the virus.”

The Champions Classic that features the Kentucky Wildcats, Kansas Jayhawks, Michigan State Spartans, and Duke Blue Devils was originally scheduled to take place on December 1^st in Orlando. While they still hope to have the event, the location is up in the air.

However, Jon Rothstein is reporting that Indianapolis has emerged as the early favorite to host both the Champions Classic and the Jimmy V Classic.

We will bring you any more updates on situation as new information is released.

You can read more on ESPN’s decision to cancel the Orlando bubble plans here.