Duke–Michigan Amazon Showcase Canceled Over TV Rights Dispute
· Yahoo Sports
Duke and Michigan have reportedly canceled their Dec. 21 game, which was set to be broadcast on Amazon Prime Video.
The matchup was originally scheduled to take place at Madison Square Garden as part of a three-game package Duke had struck with Amazon with the backing of the ACC’s primary rights partner, ESPN. But shortly after the matchup was first announced, Yahoo Sports reported that the Big Ten and Fox were disputing that the ACC possessed the rights to the game, which would have taken place in the conference’s footprint in New York.
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Notably, ESPN had broadcasted Duke’s 68–63 win over Michigan during the 2025–26 season, which took place in another shared territory in Washington, D.C. This led the Big Ten to argue it held the rights to this year’s neutral-site game, and not Amazon, due to a rights-holder deal between the conferences that agreed to alternate the broadcast rights of such games.
The Big Ten’s stance led the teams to look to play the game elsewhere, with discussions focusing on loanDepot Park in Miami. Then-Michigan head coach Dusty May had developed a relationship with Marlins owner Bruce Sherman during his time as the head coach at FAU, but left Ann Arbor to become the Mavericks’ head coach in June.
According to CBS Sports, May’s departure, coupled with the ongoing rights dispute, ultimately proved to be too much for the game to overcome.
Instead, the Blue Devils will play Texas Tech at Madison Square Garden in a rematch of a game that also took place at MSG last season. The game will complete Duke’s three-game rights deal with Amazon, joining an Elite Eight rematch against UConn in Las Vegas on Nov. 25 and a Feb. 20 matchup vs. Gonzaga in Detroit.
ACC commissioner Jim Phillips previously praised the Amazon deal, saying he wasn’t concerned about potentially setting a precedent that could undermine the conference’s TV deal.
“To Duke’s credit, they came up with something creative and they brought it to ESPN and us,” Phillips said at the league’s spring meetings. “And where it finished and where it started, maybe it wasn’t exactly the same spot. But at the end of the day, they also negotiated, [and] had to commit to some things that ESPN wanted as our television partner.”
Michigan, Duke, and the Big Ten couldn’t immediately be reached for comment. Texas Tech didn’t confirm reports of its rematch with the Blue Devils, stating that its only publicly announced games for the upcoming season are its participation in the Players Era tournament.
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