Neutral site guarantees in college basketball are far smaller in comparison to those in college football. The real value is in the strength of the matchups — often against NCAA Tournament-caliber teams — and bringing FSU basketball to large pockets of alumni groups.
Coach Luke Loucks played Alabama (at Birmingham) in an exhibition as well as regular-season matchups against Texas A&M (at Tampa), Houston (at the Rockets' Toyota Center) and UMass (at Sunrise) in his first season.
And the Seminoles will hit the road early and often in 2026-27, playing an exhibition against Auburn (at Birmingham) before playing regular-season games against Florida A&M (at Tampa), Texas A&M (back at the Rockets' arena) and Houston (at Jacksonville). The games help shape a quality strength of schedule component that complements the 18-game ACC slate.
The exhibition opener against Mississippi State at Pensacola was slated for Saturday but was canceled due to Hurricane Isaias. Now, FSU will face Auburn on Wednesday in Birmingham at 8 p.m. ET. There will be a live stream on the Ballin at Boutwell YouTube channel.
FSU's guarantees are relatively small — the biggest will be $150,000 for the FSU-Houston game in Jacksonville. The Seminoles are technically paying the arena in Tampa so that Florida A&M receives a guarantee. In between are FSU's game vs. Auburn (a $40,000 guarantee per team) and the FSU-Texas A&M game ($40,000 guarantee). Each contract gives FSU a number of complimentary tickets.
This is far from the $400,000 - $1.7 million college football game guarantees. But there are also reasons why it makes sense for college basketball teams to play neutral site games.
There’s value in playing specific neutral-site men’s basketball games beyond the guarantee or direct revenue from the game. The game in Houston offers FSU national exposure and a matchup with Texas A&M, while Jacksonville and Tampa bring the Seminoles to large FSU alumni centers.
"If we approach these games intentionally with Booster events, alumni engagement, ticket-sales follow-up and Coaches Club cultivation built around them, we can begin putting an actual value on them," an FSU spokesperson told the Osceola.
It's also an opportunity to build stronger relationships between a casual fan who has a short drive to a neutral site game but then could be excited to meet players or coaches. Those fans are prospects to join Seminole Boosters, sign up for Loucks' coaches’ club, buy season tickets or mini plans.
The trip across Interstate-10 is a realistic day trip for a weekend afternoon game (albeit a longer night for a 7 p.m. tipoff) at the Donald L. Tucker Center, and fans could be encouraged to make the drive to Tallahassee a few times in the 2026-27 season if the on-court product is fun to watch in the neutral-site game.
FSU athletics and Seminole Boosters will have representatives at the neutral sites to chat with fans. They can also track ticket buyers and communicate with them down the road.
Fans who can't make the exhibition games will be able to watch the Seminoles. The FSU-Auburn game will stream on YouTube, and the FSU-LSU game on Oct. 24 in Tallahassee will also stream on ACC Network Extra.
FSU's regular season tips off against FAMU in Tampa on Nov. 2 at 8:30 p.m. (ESPNU).
ACC preseason poll
Duke was voted the preseason favorite to win the 2026-27 Atlantic Coast Conference Men’s Basketball Championship, following a vote of a select media panel. The Blue Devils are the preseason ACC favorites for the third straight year and the 11th time in the last 14 seasons.
The media panelists selected Virginia forward Thijs De Ridder as the ACC Preseason Player of the Year, while Duke’s Joaquim Boumtje Boumtje was chosen as ACC Preseason Rookie of the Year. De Ridder is Virginia’s first ACC Preseason Player of the Year honoree since Malcolm Brogdon ahead of the 2015-16 season.
School, Points
1. Duke (45), 861
2. Virginia (1), 778
3. Louisville (1), 758
4. Miami (1), 753
5. North Carolina, 658
6. Clemson, 623
7. Florida State, 519
8. NC State, 502
9. Virginia Tech, 489
10. SMU, 443
11. Syracuse, 353
12. Pitt, 323
13. Stanford, 267
14. Wake Forest, 234
15. California, 225
16. Notre Dame, 153
17. Boston College, 150
18. Georgia Tech, 119
First-place votes in parentheses; 48 total voters
2026-27 Preseason All-ACC Team
First Team
Name, School, Votes
Thijs De Ridder, Virginia, 48
Flory Bidunga, Louisville, 47
John Blackwell, Duke, 44
Shelton Henderson, Miami, 44
Patrick Ngongba II, Duke, 42
Second Team
Malik Reneau, Miami, 30
Jackson Shelstad, Louisville, 24
Chance Mallory, Virginia, 23
Amani Hansberry, Virginia Tech, 21
Joaquim Boumtje Boumtje, Duke, 21
ACC Preseason Player of the Year
Thijs De Ridder, Virginia, 30 votes
John Blackwell, Duke, 12
Flory Bidunga, Louisville, 3
Malik Reneau, Miami, 2
Joaquim Boumtje Boumtje, Duke, 1
Preseason ACC Rookie of the Year
Joaquim Boumtje Boumtje, Duke, 34 votes
Caleb Gaskins, Miami, 5
Cameron Williams, Duke, 4
Maximo Adams, North Carolina, 3
Harris Reynolds, Clemson, 1
Deron Rippey, Duke, 1
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