May 20—Gonzaga and seven other marquee college basketball programs could be part of the sport’s next premier multi-team nonconference event beginning in 2027.
The Zags are one of eight teams in “deep discussions” about joining a pool-play nonconference event called the Diamond Cup, according to a report on Wednesday from CBS Sports.
If the event unfolds as planned, Gonzaga would be in elite company joining a pool of teams that would include blue bloods like Kansas, Kentucky, North Carolina and Indiana, recent national champions Michigan and UConn and Arizona, which recently made the Final Four under former Zag assistant Tommy Lloyd.
The eight teams being considered have combined to make 24 national championship appearances since 2000, including Gonzaga’s two title-game appearances in 2017 and 2020. The group also includes four of the last five national champions.
Event organizers are still in the preliminary stages and schools have yet to sign official contracts to participate in the tournament, according to CBS Sports. A Gonzaga official did not immediately respond to a text message from The Spokesman-Review on Wednesday afternoon seeking comment.
The tournament would feature an eight-team pool-play format debuting in 2027-28. Teams would play two games during the initial tournament before potentially shifting to a a four-game format in 2028-29, including three regular-season games and one in the preseason.
Under the two-game format, teams would play neutral-site games around the Thanksgiving holiday, with specific dates and locations still to be determined. If the event expands to four games, teams could play one exhibition and three regular-season matchups from October through Thanksgiving week in three neutral-site cities, per CBS Sports.
Gonzaga’s current agreement with the Las Vegas-based Players Era Festival, which runs through the 2027-28 season, could complicate the Zags’ participation in the inaugural Diamond Cup.
One solution could be Gonzaga participating in the smaller, eight-team Players Era event the week before Thanksgiving — as opposed to the main 16-team field they’re competing in this fall — and still playing Diamond Cup games the following week.
Gonzaga could cash in by participating in one or both tournaments two years from now. In the past, Players Era has distributed $1 million to participating teams and an additional $1 million to the champion, with $500,000 going to the runner-up. According to CBS Sports, teams competing in the Diamond Cup will receive $2.25 million apiece in 2027, with a pay bump to $3.7 million in years two and three.
Gonzaga is anticipating another hefty payday from competing in the Players Era this fall and, according to CBS Sports, could receive “north of $500,000” for playing Duke next February in a nonleague game televised by Amazon Prime.
A report linking Gonzaga and Kentucky to the Diamond Cup surfaced hours after the Bulldogs and Wildcats mutually agreed to discontinue the final two years of a six-year, six-game nonconference series, although the two events were not necessarily connected, CBS Sports’ Matt Norlander reported on Bluesky.
Gonzaga already has history with many of the teams it could potentially face years down the line at the Diamond Cup.
The Zags have played 10 games against Arizona, going 4-6 in the all-time series, although the West Coast powers haven’t met since Lloyd left Spokane to take the job in Tucson.
Michigan’s path to the 2026 national championship included a 100-60 romp of Gonzaga in the Players Era event. The Zags and Wolverines have met just one other time, with Michigan cruising to an 82-64 victory at the 2020 Battle 4 Atlantis.
Gonzaga is 2-6 in its series with UConn, playing the Huskies three times over the last four years, including an Elite Eight meeting during the 2023 NCAA Tournament.
Few’s team recently matched up with Indiana at the 2024 Battle 4 Atlantis, cruising past former coach Mike Woodson and the Hoosiers 89-73. Current Indiana coach Darian DeVries led his West Virginia team to a win over Gonzaga in the opening game at the same tournament.
The Zags are 5-3 all-time against Kansas and Kentucky, but just 2-3 against North Carolina. Gonzaga won a season opener against Kansas, 102-90, in 2020 and knocked the Jayhawks out of the 2024 NCAA Tournament, winning 89-68. The Zags went 3-1 during the recent four-game series against Kentucky, including last season’s 94-59 rout in Nashville.
The Zags won their first-ever meeting with North Carolina in 2007 as well as the most recent one in 2020, but lost three times in between, most notably falling to the Tar Heels 71-65 in the 2017 national championship.