Early-season tournament includes Vanderbilt and Gonzaga

The eight-team field for the 2012 Old Spice Classic will feature Vanderbilt and Gonzaga, both preseason top 25 teams, along with Clemson, Davidson, Marist, Oklahoma, UTEP and West Virginia. The event will be held Thanksgiving weekend, Thursday, Friday and Sunday, Nov. 22, 23 & 25, at the HP Field House at ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex near Orlando, Fla.

Tournament field

• Gonzaga is ranked No. 19 and Vanderbilt is ranked No. 22 in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll Gonzaga and West Virginia advanced to the third round of the NCAA Championship, while Clemson and Vanderbilt second round participants
• UTEP earned an National Invitation Tournament (NIT) berth and Davidson competed in the Championship Basketball Invitation (CBI)

Tournament information
The 2012 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. 25.

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 seventh straight year.

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

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

Travel information
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. Fans can purchase official hotel accommodations and game tickets by going to http://www.anthonytravel.com/espn/old-spice-classic or by calling 888-632-6951. Additional information can be found on the Old Spice Classic Web site at www.oldspiceclassic.com.

ESPN Regional Television
The nation’s largest syndicator of collegiate sports programming, ESPN Regional Television (ERT) annually produces more than 1,200 sporting events. Content includes action from NCAA football, basketball and Olympic sports, NHRA and professional and amateur golf, accounting for more than 3,400 live and/or original hours of programming. ERT’s owned and operated events reach over a million fans a year and provides more than 200 additional hours of programming.

In addition to event ownership, ERT is the production headquarters for ESPNU; syndication rights-holder and producer of national, regional and local shows for college conferences (SEC, BIG EAST, Big 12, Mid-American, WAC) and manages the Big 12 Corporate Partner Program.

ESPN Regional Television markets and/or owns several sporting events:
Collegiate Football
Beef ‘O’ Brady’s Bowl St. Petersburg; Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl (Dallas-Fort Worth); BBVA Compass Bowl (Birmingham, Ala.); MAACO Bowl Las Vegas; Gildan New Mexico Bowl (Albuquerque); Sheraton Hawai’i Bowl (Honolulu); Meineke Car Care Bowl of Texas (Houston); MEAC/SWAC Challenge presented by Disney (Orlando, Fla.) and The Home Depot ESPNU College Football Awards

Collegiate Basketball
76 Classic (Anaheim, Calif.); State Farm Champions Classic (Madison Square Garden; debuts 2011); DIRECTV Charleston Classic presented by Foster Grant (S.C.); Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic (Honolulu); Old Spice Classic (Walt Disney World Resort near Orlando, Fla.); 5-hour ENERGY® Puerto Rico Tip-Off (San Juan); All-College Basketball Classic (Oklahoma City) and Sears BracketBusters

Collegiate Lacrosse
ESPNU Warrior Classic 

Additional Events
Hawaiian Islands Invitational (Soccer) and 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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