The Metropolitan Basketball Writers Association (MBWA) of New York City founded the National Invitation Tournament in 1938, primarily to pit New York's best college basketball teams against the best from the rest of the country.
Only six teams were invited to the first tournament, with two of them receiving byes into the semi-finals. The field was expanded to eight teams in 1941. It grew to 12 teams in 1949, 14 in 1965, 16 in 1968, 24 in 1979, and 32 in 1980, 40 in 2002 and 64 in 2006. Since 2007, the field has been cut back to 32 teams.
In 1940, the Metropolitan Intercollegiate Basketball Committee (MIBC) took control of the tournament. That group was made up of five New York City colleges, Fordham, Manhattan College, New York University. St. John's, and Wagner College. It was renamed the Metropolitan Intercollegiate Basketball Association (MIBA) in 1948.
The tournament was originally played in the old Madison Square Garden, between 49th and 50th Streets, and it moved into the new garden, on 33rd Street, when it opened in 1968.
Since 1977, preliminary rounds have been played on the home courts of the top-seeded teams, and only the semi-finals and finals are staged at the garden.
In its early years, the NIT was easily as prestigious as the NCAA tournament, which began in 1939. It was usually possible for a team to play in both tournaments. In fact, City College of New York in 1950 became the first and only school to win both of them.
With the growth of the NCAA tournament to 64 teams and a much longer time span, however, the NIT could no longer attract the top teams in the country. After the MIBA sued the NCAA for alleged anti-trust violations, the NCAA in 2005 bought 10-year rights to the tournament for $56.5 million.
