Overview
- The NBA announced on July 1, 2026 that the Emirates NBA Cup championship game will be played at Butler University’s 9,100-seat Hinkle Fieldhouse on Friday, Dec. 11 and will stream exclusively on Prime Video.
- Quarterfinals are scheduled for Dec. 4–5 and semifinals for Dec. 8–9 and those rounds will be held in the higher-seed teams’ home arenas rather than at a neutral site.
- The league published the six groups of five teams and the full Cup calendar, with round-robin group play running Oct. 30 through Nov. 27 and the knockout phase advancing one wild card per conference to an eight-team bracket.
- NBA and local partners plan expanded campus programming around the final, public ticket sales will open this fall, and the move reduces the final’s capacity to about 9,100 seats compared with prior Las Vegas sites.
- The change ends the Cup’s three-year run in Las Vegas as part of a deliberate strategy by the NBA and sponsor Emirates to stage the neutral final in storied, intimate basketball venues and boost the event’s atmosphere and broadcast presentation.