ESPN Events Announces New Early Season Tournament for 2018

ESPN is adding an early season college basketball event to its roster this year with the Myrtle Beach Invitational. The new event will take place November 15, 16 and 18, at the HTC Center on the campus of Coastal Carolina University.

“We are excited to launch the Myrtle Beach Invitational,” said Pete Derzis, ESPN senior vice president of college sports programming and ESPN Events. “After collaborating with Visit Myrtle Beach and the city of Myrtle Beach to move last year’s Puerto Rico Tip-Off to the area due to the effects of Hurricane Maria, we saw first-hand the community’s outstanding facilities and passion for college basketball. Based on that experience, we determined that Myrtle Beach would be an ideal location for college basketball teams and their fans to visit each November.”

The inaugural early-season tournament will feature Cal State Fullerton, Saint Joseph’s, UCF, Valparaiso, Wake Forest, West Virginia and Western Kentucky with an eighth team to be announced at a later date. Several teams saw postseason success this season, with Cal State Fullerton and West Virginia playing the NCAA Men’s Tournament, where the Mountaineers advanced to the Sweet 16, and Western Kentucky appearing in the NIT Semifinals.

“We are excited to host ESPN and eight Division I men’s college basketball programs in November for the inaugural Myrtle Beach Invitational,” said Carla Schuessler, Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce Chair of the Board. “We are also looking forward to welcoming all the fans to our destination; in addition to the exciting action on the court, the Myrtle Beach area has so much to offer fans from the beautiful beach, to dining and attractions.

For more information on the event, including travel packages, please visit www.myrtlebeachinvite.com.

ESPN Events
ESPN Events, a division of ESPN, owns and operates a large portfolio of 31 collegiate sporting events worldwide. The roster includes three Labor Day weekend college football games; FCS opening-weekend game; 14 college bowl games, 11 college basketball events and two college award shows, which accounts for approximately 300-plus hours of programming, reaches almost 64 million viewers and attracts over 700,000 attendees each year. With satellite offices in Albuquerque, Birmingham, Boca Raton, Boise, Dallas-Fort Worth, Honolulu, Las Vegas, Montgomery and St. Petersburg, ESPN Events builds relationships with conferences, schools and local communities, as well as providing unique experiences for teams and fans.

ESPN Events also manages the Big 12 Corporate Partner Program.

Collegiate Football
Academy Sports + Outdoors Texas Bowl (Houston); AdvoCare Texas Kickoff (Houston); Bad Boy Mowers Gasparilla Bowl (St. Petersburg, Fla.); Bahamas Bowl (Nassau); Birmingham Bowl (Alabama); Cheribundi Tart Cherry Boca Raton Bowl (Florida); Camping World Kickoff (Orlando, Fla.); Celebration Bowl (Atlanta); Famous Idaho Potato Bowl (Boise); Frisco Bowl (Texas); Gildan New Mexico Bowl (Albuquerque); Guardian Credit Union FCS Kickoff (Montgomery, Ala.); Hawai’i Bowl (Honolulu); Las Vegas Bowl (Nevada); Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl (Dallas-Fort Worth); MEAC/SWAC Challenge (Baton Rouge, La.); Raycom Media Camellia Bowl (Montgomery, Ala.); The Home Depot College Football Awards Presented by Gildan (Atlanta) and Heart of Dallas Bowl (Dallas-Fort Worth)

Collegiate Basketball

AdvoCare Invitational (Walt Disney World Resort near Orlando, Fla.); Armed Forces Classic (Fort Bliss, Texas); College Basketball Awards Presented by Wendy’s (Los Angeles); Charleston Classic (South Carolina); Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic (Honolulu); Jimmy V Men’s Classic presented by Corona (Indianapolis); Jimmy V Women’s Classic presented by Corona (TBD); Myrtle Beach Invitational (Conway, S.C.); NIT Season Tip-Off (Brooklyn, N.Y.); Puerto Rico Tip-Off; State Farm Champions Classic (Indianapolis) and Wooden Legacy (Fullerton, Calif.)

For more information, visit the official website, Facebook, Twitter or YouTube pages.

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ESPN Media Contact: Anna Negron at 860-766-2233 or [email protected]; @ItsAnnaNegron