Q: What is the 76 CLASSIC?
A: The 76 Classic is a 3-day, 8-team, 12-game men’s Division I exempt basketball event. All 12 games are played at the Anaheim Convention Center in California. The 76 Classic is an ESPN Regional TV (ERT) owned and operated event. All games are televised on the ESPN family of networks.

Q: What is “76”?
A: The 76 brand (the tournament’s title sponsor) is owned by ConocoPhillips. 76-quality PROclean Gasolines are sold at more than 1,900 retail fuel sites in the United States. For more than 100 years, the 76 brand, with its distinctive ball icon, has been providing high-performance petroleum products. The origin and heritage of the 76 brand can be traced back to the small town of Santa Paula, Calif., where in 1890 Lyman Stewart co-founded the Union Oil Company of California. For more information on ConocoPhillips and 76, go to www.drivesavvy.com.

Q: How long has the 76 CLASSIC been in existence?
A: When the tournament tips in November, it will mark the event’s third year. The Big West Conference is the “host” conference each year. In the first year, USC beat Miami (OH), and in 2008 Wake Forest beat Baylor in their respective title games.

Q: Which teams will be playing in 2009?
A: The 2009 field includes Butler (Horizon League), Clemson (ACC), Long Beach State (Big West), Minnesota (Big 10), Portland (WCC), Texas A&M (Big 12), UCLA (PAC-10) and West Virginia (Big East).

Q: Where and when will the games be played?
A: All 12 games will be played at the Anaheim Convention Center over the Thanksgiving Holiday Weekend (Thursday, Nov. 26; Friday, Nov. 27; and Sunday, Nov. 30). Saturday, Nov. 29, is an off day for the teams to enjoy the Disneyland Resort theme parks.

Q: Why Anaheim?
A: Anaheim is a gorgeous travel destination in sunny southern California’s Orange County, with many world-famous attractions, including Disneyland.

Q: USC won this event in 2007, and Wake Forest won in 2008. Which teams played in the first two years of this event?
A: In 2007--the first year of the 76 Classic--the following eight teams participated: Miami University (MAC), Mississippi State (SEC), San Diego (WCC), South Alabama (Sun Belt), Southern Illinois (Missouri Valley), UT Chattanooga (Southern), UC Irvine (Big West) and USC (PAC-10).

In 2008, the field featured Arizona State (PAC-10), Baylor (Big 12), Cal State Fullerton (Big West), Charlotte (Atlantic 10), Providence (Big East), Saint Mary’s (WCC), UTEP (C-USA) and Wake Forest (ACC).

Q: What is ESPN Regional Television?
A: ESPN Regional Television (ERT) is the nation’s largest syndicator of collegiate sports programming. ERT produces more than 900 sporting events annually, including football, basketball, NCAA events, golf and NHRA events, which accounts 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, which holds the syndication rights to and produces national, regional and local shows for college conferences.

ESPN Regional Television markets and/or owns several other sporting events, including collegiate football events: the magicJack St. Petersburg Bowl; the Papajohns.com Bowl; the Bell Helicopter Armed Forced Bowl; the Sheraton Hawai’i Bowl; the Pioneer Las Vegas Bowl, the New Mexico Bowl; the MEAC/SWAC Challenge; and The Home Depot College Football Awards; collegiate basketball events: the O’Reilly Auto Parts All-College Classic (Oklahoma City); the Old Spice Classic (Orlando, Fla.); the SEC/BIG EAST Invitational; the O’Reilly Auto Parts Puerto Rico Tip-Off (San Juan); and the O’Reilly ESPNU BracketBusters; as well as the ESPN National Golf Challenge presented by Callaway.

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For more information on ERT’s owned and operated events, visit www.espnplus.com.

ESPN contact: Arnie Sgalio, 704-973-5064 | arnie.sgalio@espn.com

GET Travel contact: Julie Gonzalez, 916-939-6805, ext 108 | julieg@gettravel.com