Basketbowl

Basketbowl
Kentucky Wildcats Michigan State Spartans (4–0) (3–3) 79 74 Head coach:  Tubby Smith Head coach:  Tom Izzo 1 2 Total Kentucky 49 30 79 Michigan State 43 31 74
Date	December 13
Arena	Ford Field
Location	Detroit
Attendance	78,129
United States TV coverage
Network	CBS

The Basketbowl was a college basketball game between Michigan State University and the University of Kentucky held on December 13, 2003 at Ford Field, a domed American football stadium in Detroit, Michigan. The announced crowd of 78,129 set a record for verified attendance at a basketball game in history. While the record was broken at the 2010 NBA All-Star Game, which drew 108,713 to Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas, the Basketbowl still holds the record for attendance at a college basketball game. Kentucky won the game 79–74, never trailing throughout the contest. The NCAA was impressed with the massive size of the crowd that they decided in 2008 to expand the seating capacity for the Men's Division I Basketball Championship to a minimum of 70,000 starting with the 2009 Final Four, which would be held in that stadium.^{[citation needed]}

Teams

Both schools entered into the contest with significant on-court accomplishments. Combined, both school had won nine national championships (seven for Kentucky, two for Michigan State) and made 18 Final Four appearances (13 for Kentucky, five for Michigan State). Michigan State and Kentucky had met 20 times previously with Kentucky holding a 11–9 advantage. MSU had defeated Kentucky 71–67 the previous year at Rupp Arena.

Court

The court being assembled in Ford Field.

The basketball court for the game was moved from Michigan State's Breslin Center and reassembled on the 50 yard line of Ford Field, giving the promotional title "Basketbowl: Hoops on the 50!"^{[citation needed]} This is the same court that Michigan State won the 2000 NCAA Championship on in Indianapolis. In addition, the entire court was raised off the field by a custom stage deck installed by SGA Production Staging, Inc. to improve sight lines for those sitting in the upper bowl of the stadium.^{[citation needed]}

Basketball attendance record

The previous record of 75,000 was held by the Harlem Globetrotters during their exhibition game at Berlin, Germany's Olympic Stadium.

The 2010 NBA All-Star Game at Cowboys Stadium drew a crowd of 108,713, which shattered the all-time attendance record for the sport set by Michigan State and Kentucky in 2003.

"BasketBowl II"

It was announced on April 15, 2008 that Ford Field would host "BasketBowl II" between the Spartans and North Carolina as part of the ACC–Big Ten Challenge on December 3 of that year. UNC won the game 98–63. The game was televised on ESPN. The two teams met again in Ford Field four months later, this time for the 2009 NCAA Men's Basketball Championship. That contest was also won by UNC.