The first day of the 2025-26 college basketball season will see The Field of 68 expand its footprint in the sport.
And if all goes according to plan, it will also be a precursor to an even bigger showcase the following year.
On Tuesday, the online outlet announced that it will be expanding its Opening Day Marathon event from the three games it featured last year to six separate matchups. Meanwhile, the company’s co-owner and analyst Jeff Godman shared with Awful Announcing that the plan is to expand the showcase to a full 24-hour event in 2026.
Such an expansion would be a welcome one to college basketball fans everywhere, as ESPN’s annual College Hoops Tip-Off Marathon had previously been a staple of the start of each season. The event, however, hasn’t been held in its 24-hour format since 2016, with the network citing “programming challenges” as the reason for its cancellation.
But while it’s understandable that ESPN viewed such a showcase as a logistical (and financial) burden, it’s also worth questioning whether its commitment to college basketball is the same as it once was. The same obviously can’t be said of The Field of 68, the online outlet and podcasting network that was first launched by Goodman and fellow longtime college basketball reporter Rob Dauster in 2020.
After hosting three games at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, last year, this year’s event won’t just double the amount of games, but will also extend to a second site. The 2025 Opening Day Marathon will take place on Nov. 3, with three games taking place at the Sanford Pentagon and three more be hosted by the Rock Hill Sports & Event Center in Rock Hill, South Carolina.
The entirety of the schedule, which will air on The Field of 68’s YouTube and X feeds, is as follows:
Rock Hill, South Carolina
- Queens vs. Winthrop, 8 a.m. ET
- Bradley vs. St. Bonaventure, 11 a.m. ET
- High Point vs. Furman, 6:30 p.m. ET
Sioux Falls, South Dakota
- Murray State vs. Omaha, 1:30 p.m. ET
- Drake vs. Northern Arizona, 4 p.m. ET
- South Dakota State vs. Merrimack, 9 p.m. ET
BREAKING: @TheFieldOf68 Opening Day Marathon is BACK! 🔥@RobDauster and @GoodmanHoops give you ALL the details on matchups, tip times and MORE! 👀
READ:https://t.co/0HXnK04ELq pic.twitter.com/yrbsZ9OOrG
— The Field of 68 (@TheFieldOf68) July 29, 2025
“We are honored to be involved in this event, which has some of the elite programs in the country that exist outside the sport’s traditional power structure,” Dauster wrote while announcing the news. “This is a great opportunity for us to be able to provide more coverage for these teams that frankly don’t get enough. What we do at the Field of 68 is try and give teams at all levels the coverage they deserve.”
With tip-offs ranging from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. ET, it’s easy to see The Field of 68’s vision here. And it will certainly be worth monitoring whether the outlet is able to expand to a full 24-hour slate next year as it further establishes itself as one of college basketball’s preeminent media brands.
