Michigan State AD gives up on Texas hoops game

• Mark Hollis stops pursuit of major event for troops to open 2013-14 basketball season
• Idea was for eight teams playing four games at once in Cowboys Stadium
• TV issue and financial questions ultimately killed idea

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Michigan State athletic director Mark Hollis has ceased his pursuit of a major event to open the 2013-14 college basketball season and entertain U.S. troops in Texas.

"It's off," Hollis said today after emailing officials at the other seven schools that were going to participate with MSU in the event at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas — site of the 2014 Final Four.

The idea was for four games going on four courts at once, starting 15 minutes apart, to replicate the feel of a March Madness day of action. The goal was to create excitement in the area in advance of the Final Four, while entertaining about 30,000 troops from 12 area bases on Veterans Day weekend.

The biggest issue was the inability to find a TV network willing to broadcast four games at once on different channels.

ESPN, CBS and Turner networks were approached, but there were concerns about "diluting exposure and tying down four networks," Hollis said, at a time of year in which college basketball does not typically receive high ratings.

The logistics of the games themselves had been worked out, and Hollis said Dallas Cowboys executive vice president Charlotte Anderson — daughter of Cowboys owner Jerry Jones — was "phenomenal" in trying to make it all work.

Hollis also said the head coaches of the other seven, undisclosed schools were enthusiastic about the event. He said he even got calls from other high-profile coaches interested in it.

But the TV issue and other questions about how to split things financially ultimately killed the idea.

"I'm disappointed it's not taking place," Hollis said, "and I also understand the input provided by all the different parties involved."

Hollis said he still would like MSU to be involved in some kind of event to honor Veterans Day weekend and make it , something he'd like to make it an annual tradition.

The Spartans opened last season with the Carrier Classic on an aircraft carrier outside San Diego, and opened this season at Ramstein Air Base in Germany.

Joe Rexrode writes for the Detroit Free Press, a Gannett property