The Foot Locker Elite Classic - High Stakes Hoops

WHAT IS THE FOOT LOCKER ELITE CLASSIC - HIGH STAKES HOOPS?

The Foot Locker Elite Classic - High Stakes Hoops is like no previous basketball event in Australia. Eight teams will compete for a minimum total prize pool of $250,000 over a five-day period at the Adelaide Dome. All games will be broadcast live on ONE HD.

On each of the first three days there will be Pool Games to determine who will reach The Foot Locker Elite Classic - High Stakes Hoops Final. Two pools of four teams will play games within their own pool over the first three days of the competition to determine the Final Four teams. Games will begin at 12.30 pm and run until 8.30 pm on the 6th, 7th and 8th of April.

The Foot Locker Elite Classic - High Stakes Hoops Final Four will occur on the fourth day of competition. The Final Four games will take place on Friday, the 9th of April and will be broadcast from 4.30 pm to 6.30 pm and 6.30 pm to 8.30 pm.

Sunday will be the fifth and last day of the event. On Sunday, The Foot Locker Elite Classic - High Stakes Hoops will see the two finalists competing for nearly 75% of the total prize pool. The Foot Locker Elite Classic - High Stakes Hoops Final will be broadcast on Sunday, the 11th of April from 5 pm to 7.30 pm.

HOW IS IT DIFFERENT?

The Foot Locker Elite Classic - High Stakes Hoops delivers innovation that directly answers the call for a unique, free-flowing, every-minute-counts basketball contest.

THE 'GAME BREAKER'
On two occasions during each game, the coach or on-court captain of each team may opt to use a 'Game Breaker' phase. Over the next three minutes of clock time the team in the 'Game Breaker' phase has each successful 3-point shot counted as 4 points. The backboard to which that team is shooting will be lit in green, denoting that the 'Game Breaker' phase is current. When the 3 minutes of that 'Game Breaker' expire, the green light turns off. Each team may use one 'Game Breaker' in the first half, and one in the second half. First-half 'Game Breakers' cannot be carried over into the second half. Teams that may be 12 or 15 points behind are suddenly only a few made shots away from being back in the contest. Also, leads can be gained or extended quickly, and no team is ever really out of the contest due to the potential offensive frenzy of these 3-minute phases.

Team Rights Owners and Coaches will bear the 'Game Breaker' rule in mind when putting together their rosters, yet with only 6 minutes out of the total game time involved in the 'Game Breaker' phase, teams won't want to totally load their rosters with only long-range shooters -- the phase is still a small minority of time within the overall game. But during the 'Game Breaker' phase itself, teams will no doubt insert players into their line-ups who are capable of making the most of this phase. The defence will have to react! Or, does the opposition coach/captain call his 'Game Breaker' at the same time to counteract the first move? Questions and options are unlimited! It all adds up to a tremendously creative way to ensure an additional point of real interest in the game and its strategy.

GAME WITHIN THE GAME
At The Foot Locker Elite Classic - High Stakes Hoops there's a 'Game within the Game'. Each individual quarter will be scored separately from the actual game score. The team that wins each quarter will receive bonus 'elite points' that will be accumulated during each and every quarter of each and every game, and will have a direct impact on the prize money distribution for those teams that do not reach The Foot Locker Elite Classic - High Stakes Hoops Final Four. The team that wins the game is, of course, the recognised winner.

There are 8 'elite points' given to the winning team, and a 'W' in the win/loss column. There will be 2 'elite points' awarded to the losing team for each individual quarter that they win. This means that a losing team can potentially receive up to 6 'elite points' given that they win three of the four quarters played. As a result, teams will not simply 'wind down the clock' at the end of a quarter -- the stakes are high for every 'Game within the Game'!

Other highlights about rules include:

48-minute games, in line with NBA-style basketball.
Jump balls are used to settle 'tie ups' -- no possession arrow.
Each team will have only one full timeout and one 20-second timeout in each half. Unused timeouts cannot be carried into the second half. Less timeouts will result in a more free-flowing game.
Rosters are limited to 10 players. In addition to players, benches may contain two coaches (maximum) and one team manager.
The look and feel of the sidelines will be clean and minimal.