Iowa State has announced an agreement with E-S-P-N to host a men’s and women’s basketball doubleheader in the new Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines in December of 2005. The Cyclone Capital Classic will begin next season in Ames with the men taking on Virginia on ESPN-2. Cyclone athletic director Bruce Van De Velde says it will be a chance for both programs to get added exposure. He says 99-percent of the people in the arena are gonna be for the Cyclones so he says it will feel like a home advantage. He says they hope to expose ISU basketball to a whole new set of fans and eventually attract more people to Ames.Cyclone men’s coach Wayne Morgan says it will give his team a chance to play a quality opponent and receive national exposure at the same time. He says the event will be featured and probably advertised nationally and be seen by junior college and high school coaches and kids across the country. Iowa State hosted two successful doubleheaders during the N-I-T which averaged more than 13 thousand fans and women’s coach Bill Fennelly says those games showed what kind of impact regional and national television appearances can have. He says he knows of a couple of people who saw them on television that probably would not have seen them otherwise. He says it’s had a “dramatic impact, no question.”The Cyclone Capital Classic will also be at the Wells Fargo Arena in December of 2006.
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