Dick Vitale gets extension with ESPN, college basketball event in his honor

Dick Vitale is inextricably intertwined with college basketball, with his iconic voice, exuberant style and enthusiastic catchphrases melding into a soundtrack for nearly five decades of the sport's history.

And the broadcasting great's influence is sticking around next season, too, both in person on game days and through an addition to the college basketball calendar named in his honor.

ESPN announced Monday that Vitale has signed a contract through the 2027-28 season, while ESPN Events is launching the Dick Vitale Invitational — the first matchup coming with a season-opening tilt between Duke and Texas on Nov. 4 in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Fittingly, the announcement comes on Vitale's 86th birthday, and months after he returned to the airwaves after being gone for two years amid a fourth battle with cancer. The Basketball Hall of Famer, also a former college and NBA coach, has been with ESPN since it launched in 1979 and called the network's first college basketball broadcast.

"So many times, awards and honors come to people after they're long gone," Vitale said of the Invitational's birth in an interview with The Associated Press. "And to get it while you're living is just a great, great feeling."

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AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll