Fort Myers Tip-Off tourney to include Gonzaga, Kansas

The field for the 2020 Fort Myers Tip-Off college basketball tournament is set, according to CBS Sports.

Kansas, Gonzaga, Auburn and Saint Joe’s will play, with Gonzaga vs. Kansas and Auburn vs. Saint Joe’s on Nov. 25, and Gonzaga vs. Auburn and Kansas vs. Saint Joe’s on Nov. 27. The games will be played at Suncoast Credit Union Arena at Florida SouthWestern State College.

Businesses and students alike can’t wait.

“Having them come to Southwest Florida will help drive business and hopefully we gain foot traffic for business that comes in,” said Jake Leventhal, managing partner of Glory Days Grill.

He said business can use the boost, and visiting college basketball fans bring their money.

“It’s always great to have new customers entering into the market and exposing our brand to new customers like Kansas, Gonzaga, all the teams coming.”

Students on FSW’s campus said it will be great to see their school on a national stage.

“Before I applied here, I was thinking, you know, I’m going to apply to FSW, a lot of people were like, ‘Where’s that? What college is that?’, and this will bring more traction to our college and let people know we are here,” said freshman Chloe Swift.

“Even though I’m not that caught up with college basketball, but that’s pretty dope that we get to have that experience here,” said freshman Jaheim Germain.

As far as having fans in the stands, Gov. Ron DeSantis is OK with that; however, FSW’s social distancing policy currently calls for no more than 1,400 fans for any event.

UPDATE: According to the tournament, “Due to social distancing restrictions inside the arena, an extremely limited number of fans will be able to attend the 2020 Rocket Mortgage Fort Myers Tip-Off. There will be no public sale of tickets, but a small number of socially distanced pairs of tickets will be distributed. Fans interested in attending the event should submit a ticket request form. Fans will be contacted by a ticket representative on a first-come, first-served basis, based on the submission date of their ticket request form, for their opportunity to purchase tickets.”

MORE: Rocket Mortgage Fort Myers Tip-Off – 2020 Ticket Information Form

The original field, announced last November before the pandemic, was to include Butler, Colorado, South Florida and Wisconsin.

The Fort Myers Tip-Off began in 2018 and brings the nation’s top college basketball programs to town for two days of competition. Pittsburgh topped Northwestern to win last year’s event.

Breaking: The Fort Myers Tip-Off field is set, sources tell CBS Sports. In addition to Kansas, Gonzaga and Auburn, the fourth team was decided this morning.

Schedule:

Nov. 25: Gonzaga vs. Kansas | Auburn vs. Saint Joe’s.

Nov. 27: Gonzaga vs. Auburn | Kansas vs. Saint Joe's

— Matt Norlander (@MattNorlander) October 28, 2020

MORE: Rocket Mortgage Fort Myers Tip-Off welcomes Gonzaga, Kansas, Auburn, Saint Joseph’s to SWFL