Gonzaga, Oregon to meet in future game at Seattle’s Climate Pledge Arena
Gonzaga’s nonconference game against Oregon on Dec. 21 at Portland’s Moda Center will be the first of two meetings between the Pacific Northwest powers over the next few seasons.
This offseason, Gonzaga and Oregon signed a contract that guarantees this year’s game at the Portland Trail Blazers’ home arena, in addition to a neutral site game at Seattle’s Climate Pledge Arena that will either take place in 2026-27 or 2027-28.
Oregon coach Dana Altman confirmed a second game would take place between the teams during a Zoom call with reporters previewing next month’s nonleague clash with Gonzaga at the Northwest Elite Showdown.
“(The contract) says either next year or the following year, whatever worked out for both of our schedules,” Altman said. “So there’s nothing etched in stone for either the ’27 or ’28 seasons, but it’ll be one of those two seasons.”
Altman and Gonzaga’s Mark Few appeared on a media call moderated by former ESPN SportsCenter anchor Neil Everett, who was tabbed to be the official ambassador of the game and has ties to both schools.
Everett was born in Portland but spent most of his childhood in Spokane, where he played football and basketball at Lewis and Clark High School. Everett attended Willamette University in Salem, Oregon, before transferring to the University of Oregon, where he met Gonzaga’s coach while both were students.
Tickets can be purchased for the Dec. 21 game through Ticketmaster. Tipoff will be at 3 p.m. and NBC streaming platform Peacock will carry the live broadcast.
The Zags and Ducks have met twice during Few’s tenure, but never in a one-off nonconference game. Oregon beat Gonzaga 70-64 at the Outrigger Hotels Rainbow Classic in 1999, but the Zags evened the all-time series in 2019 with a 73-72 overtime win at the Battle 4 Atlantis.
There is a chance that Gonzaga and Oregon could see each other before next month’s game in Portland. Both schools are participating in the second-ever Players Era Festival, held over Thanksgiving week in Las Vegas. The Zags play Alabama and Maryland in their first two games, but Oregon is one of 15 teams GU could meet in its third game at the event.
Gonzaga has played three times at Climate Pledge Arena since the downtown Seattle arena opened in 2021, but the Zags are still searching for their first victory in the building after losses to Alabama, UConn and Kentucky. They will have two opportunities this season, first when they meet No. 12 UCLA on Dec. 13 in the Seattle Hoops Showdown. The Zags will return the following month for a Jan. 17 game against new West Coast Conference member Seattle U.