The NBA is going back to college this coming season, bringing the NBA Cup championship game to Butler\u2019s historic Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.<\/p>\n
Hinkle \u2014 one of the oldest arenas in the country \u2014 is iconic, and more than fits the billing that NBA Commissioner Adam Silver and other league officials were looking for when he said the league was searching for \u201cstoried college arenas\u201d to play host to the Cup final.<\/p>\n
The 2026-27 title game, to be played Dec. 11, will mark the first time the Cup final is held outside of Las Vegas \u2014 which hosted the final for the first three in-season tournaments.<\/p>\n
\u201cHinkle Fieldhouse offers a special setting to capture the excitement and drama of the Emirates NBA Cup Championship,\u201d NBA Head of Global Events Kelly Flatow said. \u201cPlaying the championship in an iconic basketball environment like this will further establish it as a signature moment on the NBA calendar.\u201d<\/p>\n
The arena, which has about 9,100 seats, has played host to at least six U.S. presidents \u2014 Herbert Hoover, Dwight Eisenhower, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush \u2014 along with the first U.S. vs. Soviet Union basketball games, circuses, tennis matches, ice shows and even was used as a barracks for the U.S. military during World War II.<\/p>\n
\u201cHinkle Fieldhouse gets loud,\u201d Boston Celtics basketball operations president Brad Stevens said when he coached at Butler, \u201cand it gets as loud as loud gets.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hinkle also was home of the famed Indiana high school basketball tournament for decades, including 1954 when tiny Milan High beat Muncie Central High to win the state title in the story that served as the inspiration for the classic basketball movie \u201cHoosiers\u201d \u2014 which used Hinkle as the set for its championship game.<\/p>\n
Indianapolis native Oscar Robertson also played there; his Crispus Attucks High team won state titles in that arena in 1955 and 1956 as well. It also has been the site of NBA games in the past, along with some WNBA games in 2022.<\/p>\n
The Los Angeles Lakers won the inaugural NBA Cup in 2023; the event was simply called the in-season tournament that year. Milwaukee won in 2024 and New York beat San Antonio for the 2025 title \u2014 in a preview of this season\u2019s NBA Finals, in which the Knicks topped the Spurs again.<\/p>\n
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