ACC commissioner Jim Phillips: Michigan did not get permission for Amazon game vs. Duke, could be replaced

Duke is going down a path nobody in college basketball has before. The Blue Devils signed a deal with Amazon to exclusively broadcast a few of their games. One of them was scheduled to be against the Michigan Wolverines, who just cut down the nets in Indianapolis. But an impasse might have come up to put the matchup in question.

On3’s Brett McMurphy says the Big Ten did not approve Michigan playing in the game set to stream on Amazon. Now, Duke might be pivoting to find a different opponent.

“ACC commish Jim Phillips said Duke received permission from ESPN to schedule future nonconference basketball games on Amazon,” McMurphy said via X. “Michigan, however, did not get required approval from Big Ten, source told @On3, so it’s possible Wolverines could be replaced as Duke’s opponent.”

Amazon announced Duke will be playing three games on their platform during the 2026-2027 season. Michigan was scheduled to face them on Dec. 21 in Madison Square Garden. Duke also has nonconference tilts vs. UConn (in Las Vegas, as an Elite Eight rematch) and Gonzaga (Detroit). It’s not tough to see why Amazon would want those specific games.

Duke did work things out with the ACC’s broadcast partner, ESPN, as Phillips mentioned. In future years, we will see Duke participate in select additional ESPN-owned and operated men’s basketball neutral-site events across the 2027-28 and 2028-29 seasons. Still, a small price to pay for a massive opportunity for the program.

There is still a lot of time between now and when schedules need to be finalized. Duke and Amazon might wind up scrambling to find another non-Michigan and non-Big Ten opponent.

Big Ten claims to own broadcasting rights to Duke-Michigan

Back in early May, Yahoo! Sports‘ Ross Dellenger reported the Big Ten is battling against Amazon for the broadcast rights of the Duke-Michigan game.

“The Big Ten has notified the ACC and ESPN that it owns the rights of the announced neutral-site basketball game between Duke and Michigan next season from Madison Square Garden, scheduled for streaming on Amazon,” Dellenger wrote. “Duke collaborated with the ACC and television partner ESPN to strike the first-of-its-kind arrangement.

“… The Big Ten, backed by its primary broadcast rights holder, Fox, has communicated with both the ACC and ESPN about the matter. The league believes it owns the broadcast rights as part of a rights-holder agreement between the conferences.”

On3’s Daniel Hager and Grant Grubbs contributed to this report