The Iowa athletics department announced Thursday afternoon that the Hy-Vee Classic would come to an end after the 2018 edition of the event.

Iowa announced it would withdraw from the event — which pitted Iowa and Iowa State against in-state schools Northern Iowa and Drake at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines — because of the Big Ten’s decision to increase conference play to 20 games beginning in the 2018-19 season. 

“In our last agreement, we added language that provided each institution an opportunity to opt-out of the remainder of the contract if they reached 22 required games by the conference,” said Iowa Athletic Director Gary Barta in a press release. 

The final Hy-Vee Classic games will take place on Dec. 15. Iowa State will play Drake and Iowa will take on Northern Iowa. 

The Hawkeyes, in addition to the 20-game conference schedule, have required non-conference games as part of the Gavitt Tip-off Games series between the Big Ten and Big East, as well as the Big Ten-ACC Challenge. 

Add in the Cy-Hawk Series, which Iowa says will not be affected by the end of the Classic, and the schedule gets a little crowded. 

If new agreements with Drake and/or Northern Iowa are not reached, then Iowa State might not be playing two of its in-state rivals for the foreseeable future past the coming year.