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Players Era Festival, the weeklong Las Vegas basketball tournament that paid out more than $9 million in NIL (name, image, and likeness) money to participating players, is expanding to women’s basketball.
It announced today that in 2025 it will put on a four-team women’s round-robin tournament featuring No. 1 UCLA, No. 3 South Carolina, No. 6 Texas, and No. 9 Duke. In addition to competing against some of the best teams on the court, each team will receive $1 million in guaranteed NIL opportunities off it.
The women’s tournament will be held Thanksgiving weekend alongside the men’s tourney at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, which Players Era has secured to a five-year deal. Players Era CEO Seth Berger told Front Office Sports that the women’s side wants to expand to eight in 2026.
“Players Era is creating the first-ever tentpole women’s college basketball MTE [multi-team event] with an unbelievably loaded field and fascinating storylines, early season matchups that are sure to set
the tone for the rest of the season,” Berger said in a press release.
South Carolina head women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley echoed that sentiment, noting that the festival “brings together everything we’re looking for—quality games early in the season, a great location for fans to come and enjoy, and NIL opportunities for our players.”
The inaugural men’s tournament, which kicked off Nov. 26, featured eight teams, four of them ranked in the AP Top 25 poll at the start of competition: No. 6 Houston, No. 9 Alabama, No. 20 Texas A&M, No. 21 Creighton, Notre Dame, Oregon, Rutgers, and San Diego State. Oregon went undefeated in the tournament, beating Alabama in the championship game to catapult itself into the Top 25.
The organizers plan to expand to 18 teams next year, retaining the initial eight while adding Gonzaga, Baylor, Iowa State, St. John’s, St. Joseph’s, and Michigan. Berger said that, on the opening day of the tournament—which aired on TBS as Jazz GM Danny Ainge and Warriors GM Mike Dunleavy Jr. scouted from the stands—he was fielding calls from top teams wanting to round out the field.
Players Era is testing out a new model for in-season college basketball, luring fans and teams alike with the promise of a March Madness feel in November—and sweetening the pot by distributing at least $1 million to each team. That money comes from players participating in NIL opportunities off the court, rather than basketball activities on it; teams participating in the festival sit for everything from autograph signings with fans to meet-and-greets with sponsors.
Given the level of interest from top-tier teams, the model seems to be working.
Creighton paid to get out of its contract with the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament in order to come to Vegas instead. San Diego State head coach Brian Dutcher, meanwhile, said strength of schedule was an even bigger motivator for him in accepting an invitation. “I don’t want to tell them this because they might not pay us, but I’d have come for free to play this kind of competition.”
Securing South Carolina and UCLA on the women’s side is a minor coup. The Bruins knocked off reigning champ South Carolina in November to end the Gamecocks’ 43-game win streak and seize the top spot in the AP rankings.
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