It's a new day in college basketball.
Alabama and Auburn, already set to meet twice during the regular season as always, with one game at Auburn's Neville Arena and the other in Alabama's Coleman Coliseum, will play a third time during the 2026-27 season.
The Crimson Tide and Tigers will meet on October 22nd in an exhibition game in Birmingham, per AuburnSports' Justin Hokanson:
NEWS: Auburn and Alabama will meet in an October exhibition game at the BJCC in Birmingham, sources tell @AuburnOn3
— Justin Hokanson (@_JHokanson) August 26, 2026
If the game sells out, both programs will earn well into the six figures, providing a boost for roster-building efforts.
Details: https://t.co/oyTotkb9tA pic.twitter.com/13fPeJRSuu
Hokanson explains the reasoning in his tweet announcing the contest. It's fully NIL-driven, with Alabama and Auburn potentially earning well into the six-figure range each for the contest, assuming a sellout at the BJCC, which is a near certainty.
The landscape of college basketball has changed dramatically. Teams are now using exhibition games as legitimate revenue drivers, and there's sure to be a ton of interest from both sides of the Iron Bowl of basketball rivalry to see these two programs meet in the preseason.
And while the game won't count for the regular season standings or in the history books, there's still bragging rights on the line, and both Nate Oats and Steven Pearl will want to get the win. This won't be your typical exhibition game. It'll be highly competitive.
Alabama swept Auburn during the 2025-26 season on its way to a 4-seed in the NCAA Tournament and a fourth straight trip to the second weekend of the Big Dance. Auburn missed the tournament in Pearl's first season in place of his father.
Alabama will play two SEC opponents during its exhibition schedule
Alabama was already slated to face an SEC opponent in the preseason. Now, they'll face two. The Crimson Tide will meet Ole Miss a week prior to its exhibition against Auburn in the annual Ballin in Boutwell on October 15th.
Oats is going to get a really good idea of what he has for this coming year before the regular season ever gets started. Both Ole Miss and Auburn will provide quality matchups that will allow Oats and the Crimson Tide to work out the kinks before the season tips off.
In this day and age of college sports, money is the name of the game. Every program is looking for any and all opportunities they can to earn extra money to help fund their rosters. That's the impetus behind the Iron Bowl of basketball exhibition being scheduled. It's an opportunity for the Crimson Tide and Tigers to generate some much-needed revenue, as neither is working anywhere close to the high end of budgets in college basketball.
This matchup will be a fun teaser for fans before the start of the season, and it's a great opportunity for both programs to generate some easy revenue while testing each other in the preseason.
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