Pizza Hut Bringing Back Beloved Item

After a 30-year hiatus, Pizza Hut is bringing back one of its most popular promotional items. In support of this year's March Madness collegiate basketball tournament, the pizza chain announced Wednesday it's bringing Mini Basketballs back as a promotional item. Beginning Tuesday, March 14th, the red and black basketballs will be available for purchase at participating locations. The balls themselves will retail for $7 each.

In addition to the return of the basketballs—a staple for many pizza consumers in the early 1990s—Pizza Hut is also introducing new boxes for its Big New Yorker Pizza. A circle punches out from the lid of the box, allowing pizza fiends to turn the box into a two-in-one hoop and backboard.

"We're back again for the seventh year as the official pizza of March Madness® and we wanted to do something special for pizza loving basketball fans," Pizza Hut chief marketer Lindsay Morgan said of the return. "That's why we're bringing back a fan-favorite item, our Mini Basketballs, to pair perfectly with pizza orders during the tournament and unveiling interactive hoop pizza box packaging for customers to get into the basketball action at home."

The basketballs were first introduced in 1990, taking on the appearance of a classic orange basketball. This time around, howevers, the items will be black and red with a stylized "No One Out Pizzas The Hut" typography. The promotion is said to be lasting for a limited time, though it's unclear just how long the basketballs will be available.

The original basketballs have been turned into a cult item of sorts, with collectors frequently selling them on the secondary market at two-times to three-times markup.