DES MOINES, Iowa --- The University of Northern Iowa men’s basketball team will no longer host Iowa and Iowa State at the McLeod Center.

The Greater Des Moines Convention and Visitors Bureau announced the “Big Four Classic” Thursday — a doubleheader basketball event to feature the state’s four Division I institutions, UNI, Drake, Iowa and Iowa State — in each of the next four years.

Iowa and UNI have played on each other’s home floors on alternating years every season since 1988, aside from a two-year break in the mid-90s. UNI and Iowa State have played a home-and-home series all but two years since 1980.

Iowa State and Drake share the state’s oldest continuous basketball rivalry at 170 games, playing every season from 1908 onward. That streak will end in the 2012-13 season.

Thursday’s announcement ended much speculation about a new format that will feature Iowa and Iowa State alternating between playing UNI and Drake on the same night at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.

The inaugural event will be Dec. 15, 2012 with Iowa facing UNI and Iowa State matching up against Drake. Game times have not been finalized, but each contest will be televised live, according to the press release.