Arizona and Arkansas reportedly to start 3-year series in Phoenix next season

UA confirmed last month that it would play a high-major team on Dec. 19 in Phoenix, and CBS Sports reported that the Razorbacks will be the opponent and that the two teams will play on campus sites during the 2027-28 and 2028-29 seasons.

CBS said the Phoenix game will again be part of the Basketball Hall of Fame Series, as previous UA games in Phoenix have been, and will be part of a doubleheader that will include a UNLV-SMU game. Arizona has played one game in Phoenix during each of the past three seasons: Alabama in 2023-24, UCLA in 2024-25 and San Diego State last season.

As part of the latest agreement, Arizona will travel to Arkansas during the 2027-28 season and then host the Razorbacks in 2028-29, with an option for a semi-away game near Arkansas in 2029-30, CBS reported.

Arizona and Arkansas met in the Sweet 16 at San Jose last season, with the Wildcats winning 109-88 before beating Purdue to advance to the Final Four.

Playing neutral-site games has become an increasingly lucrative way to help college programs to pay players. The Wildcats were contracted to receive a guaranteed $200,000 each for neutral-site, Hall of Fame-branded games against Florida and UCLA last season, according to contracts obtained by the Star via a public-records request, plus additional ticket sales revenue above a certain threshold.

UA was scheduled to receive 10% of net ticket sales revenue between $800,000 and $1.2 million for the Florida game, plus 33.3% of ticket revenue between $1 million and $1.3 million for UCLA.

Arizona still has several home "guarantee" games to fill against mid- or low-major opponents next season, but the high-major portion of the Wildcats' schedule is further along.

They will open the season against UCLA in Las Vegas on Nov. 2, host NAU at McKale Center on Nov. 10, host UConn on Nov. 18, and play in the Nov. 23-25 Maui Invitational (Maui brackets have not been set, but the field includes Clemson, Colorado State, Mississippi, Providence, VCU, Washington and BYU).

In December, before facing Arkansas, Arizona is scheduled to travel to New York to face St. John’s on Dec. 5 at Madison Square Garden.

With a new NCAA rule allowing teams a maximum of 32 games next season, and the Big 12 likely playing an 18-game schedule, Arizona will have a 14-game nonconference season, including three games in Maui and the four other planned high-major games.

The Big 12 has had discussions about moving back to a 20-game conference season during meetings last week in Texas. UA coach Tommy Lloyd said there is a “general consensus” among Big 12 coaches still favoring 18, but acknowledged that 20 would give the Big 12 more inventory to keep media partners happy.

Noting that the conference will be negotiating for new media rights in 2030 — and the need to hold as many quality games as possible beforehand — Big 12 Chief Basketball Officer Brian Thornton said a decision would be made soon so teams can plan.