College basketball teams could replace their foreign tours with matchups against other college teams over the summer and also invite fans to the games, the NCAA announced Tuesday, creating something like a college summer league.
The Division I men’s and women’s basketball oversight committees introduced a proposal that would allow teams to play an “exhibition game, scrimmage, joint practice, 3×3 or 5×5” and play those contests in private or public events three times during the eight-week stretch when Division I programs can organize official workouts.
The rules would also allow players who have transferred to a new team through the portal to compete for those programs in summer matchups before their first official games the following season.
Previous rules allowed teams to take a foreign trip once every four years before that rule was amended earlier this year to allow teams to tour annually. Teams will still be allowed to take foreign trips each year, however, if the new proposal is passed. They would also have the option to bypass those tours in favor of domestic matchups in the summer.
This proposal, which the oversight committees will officially vote on in December before the Division I committee could implement the new rule through a vote in January, could create a college summer league. If approved, the best teams in college basketball could play each other in summer exhibitions, potentially televised, before the college football and NFL seasons begin as early as next summer.
At a time when schools are hoping to generate more money to contribute to their rev-share budgets for their players and their overall athletic departments, the games could also create a new financial pipeline within the sport.
“I like the tours. We’re going to take a trip in August to play three games. I’ve always felt like that is beneficial,” Boston College head coach Luke Murray said. “The way it’s been described by me is almost like an NBA Summer League. If it happens, we’ll be there. We’ll have a team on the floor, but I don’t necessarily look at it as something that we needed, but I could be wrong.”
