Report: Michigan, Duke moving game from Madison Square Garden to baseball stadium in Miami

Duke scheduling a non-conference matchup against Michigan Wolverines basketball at Madison Square Garden in New York as part of its three-game deal with Amazon Prime Video caused a broadcasting dispute. The Big Ten — and its television partner FOX — believed it was going to own the rights to the game since it was in shared Big Ten/ACC territory.

Now, according to a report from CBS Sports’ Matt Norlander, Michigan and Duke are close to moving the Dec. 21 game from New York to LoanDepot Park in Miami, home of the MLB’s Marlins. The venue is air conditioned and has a roof that is retractable.

“The contracts haven’t been signed, but sources this week put it close to 100% that the game gets moved to the MLB ballpark in southeastern Florida,” Norlander wrote.

Michigan head coach Dusty May is friends with Miami Marlins owner Bruce Sherman, who is a season ticket holder to FAU basketball, which May coached for six years and led the Owls to the 2023 Final Four. Norlander reported that Sherman had the idea of FAU playing at the stadium years ago, but it didn’t come to fruition.

Wisconsin men’s and women’s basketball played games at the home of the Milwaukee Brewers in 2022. San Diego State took on San Diego at Petco Park in 2015, too, and there are other instances.

The contest is part of a three-game deal between Duke and Amazon, which will stream the matchup between the Wolverines and Blue Devils. Duke will also compete against UConn in Las Vegas Nov. 25 and Gonzaga Feb. 20 in Detroit.

Michigan is 8-23 all time against Duke, 0-7 in neutral-site games. The Wolverines’ last win against the Blue Devils came Dec. 6, 2008, winning 73-71 in Ann Arbor.

While Duke lost projected top-five NBA Draft pick Cameron Boozer from last year’s roster, head coach Jon Scheyer has reloaded and built a strong roster for nex season. Starters Caleb Foster, Dame Sarr and Patrick Ngongba II are set to return, with Wisconsin transfer John Blackwell, who averaged 19.1 points per game last season, as a big addition.

Just after winning the national championship game, May stated in an interview with CBS that he was looking to schedule aggressively for the 2026-27 campaign, with only “two or three” buy games.

“Look, our fans, our alums, everyone deserves to see us play the best competition night in, night out that we can,” the Michigan coach said. “It’s better for the game. It’s better for the university. And, even though it’s more stressful, the challenge for us forces us to get better and stay the course.”

The Wolverines also have non-conference games set against UConn in Boston (Nov. 6), at Villanova (date TBD) and vs. Marquette (Nov. 11). For a second-straight year, they will take part in the Players Era tournament in Las Vegas, which Michigan won with three wins last season, and the Wolverines will open with Creighton, then take on either Miami or TCU and have at least one other game.