Players Era Festival

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Players Era Festival
Current season, competition or edition:
Basketball current event.svg 2025 Players Era Festival
Sport College basketball
Founded2024
FounderEverWonder Studio and Seth Berger
No. of teams8 (2024) 18 (2025)
CountryUnited States
Venues MGM Grand Garden Arena
Paradise, Nevada
Most recent
champions		 Michigan (Men's)
Texas (Women's)
Most titlesMen's: Michigan & Oregon (1)
Women's: Texas (1)
Broadcaster TNT, truTV, and HBO Max (streaming service)
Tournament formatRound robin (2024)
Official website PlayersEra.com

The Players Era Festival is an American early-season college basketball tournament. The tournament takes place in Paradise, Nevada, with games being played at MGM Grand Garden Arena, during the Thanksgiving week. A title sponsor has not been announced, but the tournament was created to give each team at least $1 million toward each team's Name, Image and Likeness (NIL). [1] The tournament played its inaugural edition during the 2024–25 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. [2]

Contents

History

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. [3]

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. [4]

On December 16, 2024, it was announced there will be an inaugural Players Era Women's Championship in 2025, which took place over three days during Thanksgiving week in Las Vegas. The women's iteration coincided with the men's tournament. [5]

On November 24, 2025 the Big 12 Conference announced a five-year deal to take a 15% equity stake in the Players Era Festival, along with a minimum guarantee from annual revenues and the Big 12 will receive eight bids to the Players Era tournament when it expands to 32 teams next season. [6]

Tournament history

Men's tournament

YearChampionRunner-upScoreMVP
2024 Oregon Alabama 83–81TJ Bamba, Oregon [7]
2025 Michigan Gonzaga 101–61 Yaxel Lendeborg, Michigan [8]

Women's tournament

YearChampionRunner-upScoreMVP
2025 Texas South Carolina 66–64 Rori Harmon, Texas [9]

References

  1. ↑ "Players Era Festival Event Overview".
  2. ↑ "Sources: Houston, Alabama among field for Players Era Festival". June 12, 2024.
  3. ↑ "NCAA Memo Fuels Questions About Big-Bucks NIL Hoops Event". August 21, 2024.
  4. ↑ "Multimillion-Dollar NIL Hoops Tourney to Finalize Plans Soon".
  5. ↑ Andrews, Kendra (December 16, 2024). "South Carolina, UCLA, Duke, Texas in inaugural Players Era Women's Championship". ESPN. ESPN. Retrieved December 19, 2024.
  6. ↑ "Players Era and Big 12 Conference Announce Landmark Partnership for Players Era Men's Championship".
  7. ↑ "Ducks Defeat No. 9 Alabama in Players Era Festival Championship". goducks.com. November 30, 2024. Retrieved November 27, 2025.
  8. ↑ Schmidt, Quinn (November 27, 2025). "Michigan Cruises Past No. 12 Gonzaga to Claim Players Era Title". MGoBlue.com. Retrieved November 27, 2025.
  9. ↑ "Rori Harmon breaks 40-year career assist record in the win over South Carolina to capture Players Era Championship". texaslonghorns.com. November 27, 2025. Retrieved November 27, 2025.
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