Fox has signed a three-year deal with the NBA to televise the league’s new Jr. NBA World Championship event that will debut this summer.
The inaugural NBA-run event for elite 13- and 14-year-old boys and girls teams is set for Aug. 7-12 at the ESPN Wide World of Sports near Orlando.
Terms of the agreement call for Fox Sports to air live 16 games of the tournament across Fox and FS1 that includes the boys and girls U.S. and international championship games. Fox will air 10 hours of live programming of the championship games on Aug. 11 and 12. Other U.S. and international pool play and elimination games will air on FS1. All the games will be streamed on the Fox Sports app.
Fox paid the NBA an undisclosed rights fee for the tournament.
The Jr. NBA World Championship features both boys and girls divisions, each comprising eight U.S. and eight international teams, separated into U.S. and international brackets that include round-robin and single-elimination competition.
The winning boys and girls teams from eight new U.S. regional tournaments (Central, Mid-Atlantic, Midwest, Northeast, Northwest, South, Southeast and West), as well as teams representing eight international regions (Africa and Middle East, Asia Pacific, Canada, China, Europe, India, Mexico and South America), will compete in the Jr. NBA World Championship.
“What we are happy about is that Fox shares our passion for not only youth basketball, but for the unique aspects of the tournament,” said Kathy Behrens, NBA president of social responsibility and player programs. “We have a long-term commitment to the tournament.”
The creation of the tournament comes as part of NBA Commissioner Adam Silver’s effort to get the league more involved at the elite youth basketball level to grow the game and improve the experience for both players and coaches.
