FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 22, 2009

2009 Charleston Classic Field Includes NIT Champion Penn State

ESPN Regional Television, Inc. (ERT), a subsidiary of ESPN, announced today seven of the eight teams in the field for the 2009 Charleston Classic, to be held Nov. 19-22 at Carolina First Arena in Charleston, S.C.

The field for the second annual Charleston Classic will include La Salle, Miami (Fla.), UNC Wilmington, Penn State, South Carolina, USF and Tulane. The eighth team will be announced at a later date. Three of the teams in the field played in the 2008-09 NIT, including NIT champion Penn State, Miami and South Carolina.

“We’re excited to bring another stellar field of teams to the great destination city of Charleston,” said Pete Derzis, senior vice president and general manager, ESPN Regional Television. “We look forward to bringing these teams together for college basketball in such an incredible setting and giving the student-athletes, their coaches and staffs, as well as the fans a great and memorable experience.”

The 2009 Charleston Classic, a bracket-format tournament, will feature 12 games in three days, Nov. 19-22. The Southern Conference (SoCon) will serve as the event’s sponsoring conference for the second straight year.

Each team will compete in one game per day, advancing through a bracket-tournament format.  The two teams that remain undefeated throughout will face off in a championship match Sunday, Nov. 22.

In the inaugural Charleston Classic in 2008, Clemson defeated Temple, 76-72, in the championship game. The Tigers, who went on to participate in the NCAA Tournament, also defeated Hofstra and TCU in the Charleston Classic, part of a 16-0 start to the season, which vaulted Clemson into the top 10 in the polls by January.

The Charleston Classic was the first event at the brand new Carolina First Arena. Attendance for the six sessions was 12,620, an average of 2,103 per session. The largest crowd was 4,582 on Friday, Nov. 14, for the session including College of Charleston’s season opener against SIU Edwardsville as well as Clemson vs. Hofstra.

ESPN Regional Television/Event Ownership

The nation’s largest syndicator of collegiate sports programming, ESPN Regional Television (ERT) annually produces more than 1,000 telecasts of sporting events. Programming includes football, basketball, NCAA events, golf and NHRA events accounting for more than 2,200 live and/or original hours of programming. In addition to event ownership, ERT is the production headquarters for ESPNU, the 24-hour college sports network; syndication rights-holder and producer of national, regional and local shows for college conferences (e.g. – SEC, BIG EAST, Big 12, Mid-American, Sun Belt, WAC).

ESPN Regional Television markets and/or owns several sporting events, including collegiate football events: the Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl (Fort Worth, Texas); New Mexico Bowl (Albuquerque); Papajohns.com Bowl (Birmingham, Ala.); Las Vegas Bowl; Sheraton Hawai’i Bowl (Honolulu); St. Petersburg Bowl; the MEAC/SWAC Challenge presented by Disney (Orlando, Fla.) ; and The Home Depot ESPNU College Football Awards; collegiate basketball events: the 76 Classic (Anaheim, Calif.); Charleston Classic (S.C.); Diamond Head Classic (Honolulu); Old Spice Classic (Walt Disney World Resort near Orlando, Fla.); O’Reilly Auto Parts Puerto Rico Tip-Off (San Juan); O’Reilly Auto Parts All-College Classic (Oklahoma City); SEC/BIG EAST Invitational; and the ESPNU BracketBusters; as well as the ESPN National Golf Challenge presented by Callaway. For more information, visit ESPNPlus.com.