Players Era Festival
College basketball tournament
| Sport | College basketball |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2024 |
| Founder | EverWonder Studio and Seth Berger |
| No. of teams | 8 (2024) |
| Country | United States |
| Venue(s) | MGM Grand Garden Arena Paradise, Nevada |
| TV partner(s) | TNT, TBS, TruTV, Max(streaming service) |
| Tournament format | Round robin (2024) |
| Official website | PlayersEra.com |
The Players Era Festival is an early-season college basketball tournament. The tournament takes place in Paradise, Nevada with the games being played inside the MGM Grand Garden Arena, during the week of the US holiday of Thanksgiving. A title sponsor has yet to be announced but the tournament is being created to give each team at least $1 million towards each team's Name, Imagine and Likeness (NIL).[1]
In August 2024, the NCAA sent out a memo reiterating that players could not be directly compensated for participating in an MTE, even if the money was routed through a collective. EverWonder claimed that players would participate in sponsorship opportunities on behalf of the event that would allow for NIL compensation, with this compensation being described in agreements between EverWonder and the schools' NIL collectives, but not in the agreements between EverWonder and the schools themselves.[2]
The following month, a financial representative for the event informed Sportico that an announcement would be made soon for the sponsor and TV partner. The publication questioned the event's prospective profitability, as other MTEs bring in between $1-3 million, far below the potential amount needed to make the event profitable.[3]
2024
The tournament will play its inaugural tournament during the 2024–25 NCAA Division I men's basketball season with it being split into two four-team Multi-Team Events (MTE), each having a round-robin format with each team playing one game against the other three teams in their MTE.[4]
Impact Tournament
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Power Tournament
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Game times are listed in Eastern Time.
2025
The 2025 field will expand to a total of 18 teams and feature a more traditional bracket style tournament.[5]
Teams:
References
- ^ "Players Era Festival Event Overview".
- ^ "NCAA Memo Fuels Questions About Big-Bucks NIL Hoops Event". August 21, 2024.
- ^ "Multimillion-Dollar NIL Hoops Tourney to Finalize Plans Soon".
- ^ "Sources: Houston, Alabama among field for Players Era Festival". June 12, 2024.
- ^ "Players Era 2025 Committed Teams". Players Era.
External links
- Official site of the Players Era Festival
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NCAA men's college basketball tournaments
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| Defunct Conference postseason | |
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| Defunct Conference postseason | |
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