Premier early season tournament includes Dayton, Fairfield and Indiana St.

The eight-team field for the Old Spice Classic has been unveiled with the addition of Indiana State for the 2011 event to be held Thanksgiving weekend, Thursday, Friday and Sunday, Nov. 24, 25 & 27, at the HP Field House at ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex near Orlando, Fla.

Joining Indiana State in the field for the sixth annual Old Spice Classic is Arizona State, Dayton, DePaul, Fairfield, Minnesota, Texas Tech and Wake Forest. ISU earned a bid to the 2011 NCAA Championship, while Dayton and Fairfield were National Invitation Tournament (NIT) participants.

The 2011 Old Spice Classic, a bracket-format tournament, will feature 12 games over the three days. 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. 27.

Sponsors include Old Spice, ESPNU and ESPN’s Wide World of Sports. The Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) will serve as the event’s sponsoring conference for the sixth straight year.

Notre Dame captured the 2010 Old Spice Classic title, while Florida State won the 2009 Classic. Previous winners were Gonzaga in 2008, North Carolina State in 2007 and Arkansas in 2006.

The family-friendly tournament is a weekend-long affair at the Walt Disney World Resort where participating teams practice, play and enjoy the Walt Disney World Resort Theme Parks. Additional information, including travel packages, can be found on the Old Spice Classic Web site at www.oldspiceclassic.com.

The Old Spice Classic is owned and operated by ESPN Regional Television, Inc. (ERT), a subsidiary of ESPN.

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, WAC).

ESPN Regional Television markets and/or owns several sporting events, including collegiate football events: Beef ‘O’ Brady’s Bowl St. Petersburg; Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl (Fort Worth, Texas); BBVA Compass Bowl (Birmingham, Ala.); MAACO Bowl Las Vegas; New Mexico Bowl (Albuquerque); Sheraton Hawai’i Bowl (Honolulu); Texas Bowl (Houston); MEAC/SWAC Challenge presented by Disney (Orlando, Fla.) and The Home Depot ESPNU College Football Awards. Collegiate basketball events: 76 Classic (Anaheim, Calif.); Champion’s Classic (Madison Square Garden; debuts 2011); Charleston Classic (S.C.); Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic (Honolulu); Old Spice Classic (Walt Disney World Resort near Orlando, Fla.); Puerto Rico Tip-Off (San Juan); All-College Basketball Classic (Oklahoma City), Sears BracketBusters. In addition, the ESPNU Warrior Classic (Lacrosse), the Hawaiian Islands Invitational (Soccer) and the ESPN National Golf Challenge. For more information, visit ESPNPlus.com.

About ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex
ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex, which hosts more than 300 events a year, is the leading multisport venue for amateur and professional sports in the United States, accommodating 60 different sports and athletes from more than 70 countries. Designed to take youth sports to the next level, the 220-acre facility features: HP Field House, a 165,000-square-foot field house that seats 5,500 for basketball; Champion Stadium ballpark (cap. 11,500); Hess Sports Fields, which include multiple baseball, softball and soccer fields; Jostens Center, an 80,000-square-foot multisport field house; and the Innovation Lab, a real-world testing ground for the ESPN Emerging Technology group to develop groundbreaking on-air products such as Ball Track and ESPN Snap Zoom. In addition, the complex features 56 high definition cameras (42 robotic, 10 hand-held and four studio) and 40 high definition video screens, including three jumbo screens, that can capture and display footage from any event taking place at the complex. The camera and video screens, as well as a 20-zone audio system, are controlled through the state-of-the-art Production Center, which features eight edit bays and links to ESPN facilities in Bristol, Conn., New York and Los Angeles. For more information, visit www.wdwnews.com for releases, photos and videos. Follow us on Twitter at @DisneySports.

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