At 8 a.m. Thursday morning, St. Jude announced that a blue blood of men's college basketball and the defending national champion of women’s college basketball will both be visiting FedExForum on October 15th for the first ever St. Jude Tip Off Classic.
In these two preseason charity exhibitions to raise money for the local children’s cancer research hospital, Penny Hardaway’s men’s team will face Hubert Davis’ North Carolina Tar Heels at 6 p.m., while second-year coach Alex Simmons will play the face of women’s college basketball, Dawn Staley, and her South Carolina Gamecocks at 8:30 p.m.
After the announcement, Penny Hardaway took to Instagram.
“We would love to see the entire city out for such a wonderful cause. We know how important St. Jude Children’s research hospital is in our city. We love St. Jude, and we love basketball,” he said.
Richard Shadyac Jr., the CEO and president of the fundraising organization for St. Jude, ALSAC, said "The Hoops for St. Jude Tip Off Classic is a powerful example of what can be achieved when sports, compassion, and a shared commitment come together."
This event is the first of its kind, as these charity exhibitions will reportedly have significant NIL benefits for the teams involved, as Hitmen Hoops reported on X that UNC is receiving $150,000 to be used for NIL for their team. While no number was given for Memphis, one can assume it will be a significant amount.
All involved believe this can become an annual regular season event and can hopefully turn into a multi team event (MTEs) that can create great NIL opportunities for the teams involved, similar to the groundbreaking Players Era Festival tournament in Las Vegas this year, which will spread $9 million across 8 teams. However, this event is one of a kind, due to its NIL money and ticket sales money coming in specifically to promote a non-profit in St. Jude.
The ideal scenario is to see this turn into one of the premier MTE’s of the college basketball season, all centering at FedExForum, and it is entirely possible due to the substantial amount of NIL money being poured into this. Teams Memphis would never dream of being able to schedule may visit the FedExForum as a result.
However, this first year must be a success, and the way the success will be measured is ticket sales, of which 100% of the proceeds will go to St. Jude. Tickets will go on sale Saturday, September 14 at 10 a.m. on Ticketmaster or at the FedExForum box office.
The South Carolina women's team comes off their second title in three years and a perfect 38-0 season, capped off by a win over Caitlyn Clark and Iowa in the title game. Dawn Staley’s team has firmly replaced UConn as the premier program in women’s college basketball.
North Carolina is a consensus preseason top 10 team, as they return All-American guard R.J. Davis and former 5-star Elliot Cadeau. Additionally, they brought in a strong transfer portal and recruiting haul, all after winning the ACC and earning a number one seed last season.
The Memphis men’s team will play their second preseason charity exhibition against the team who beat North Carolina in the Sweet 16 last season en route to the Final Four, as they will face another consensus top 10 team in Alabama, on October 27th in Huntsville.
After the men's team sees how they stack up against two of the best teams in the sport, they will open the season at home on November 4th against Missouri. While the women’s opener is not official yet, they will welcome traditional rivals to FedExForum this year when they play Tennessee and Louisville on December 18 and December 21, respectively.
