Players Era
- Thread starter TopCy
- Start date
Also, the initial pitch for this event — the eight teams that played in it last year all received a $1 million for participating — will be changing. This year may not see every team receiving $1 million after some updates to how all expenses are accounted for, and that most definitely will not be the case come 2026 when the field balloons to 32 on the men's side alone. Some critics of the event said what Players Era was selling would not wind up being the reality, and in this regard, they've been proven right.
Betting on the future. Not the now.
I actually like this idea, but there’s risk and it’s going to take a lot of work. If the leaders of this tournament can achieve first-mover advantages and establish this event as the premier mid-season tournament it could be huge.
I could see it doing viewership numbers that eventually rival the NCAA tourney (at least on Monday-Wednesday) because you have compelling basketball games that are filling the airwaves during workdays on usually dead days. They do need to make it an actual tournament though and incorporate a bracket to increase the gambling aspect and entice more casual viewers.
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Another risk I see is other conferences’ teams pulling out of this competition or starting their own, knowing that participating directly benefits the B12 financially.
This has to be executed so it is more worthwhile for other conference teams to ignore that downside and still participate.
This might be a dumb question- but in that future agreement, the payout only goes to the 8 teams that participate right?
I figured we were just first to announce. I bet the Big10, SEC, and ACC all get 10-15% and 6-8 teams too. With Big East maybe getting a smaller percentage and a guaranteed team or 2.
I was thinking about this in the shower. I wouldn't be shocked if we pool that money and distribute it equally like bowl payouts. Depends on what's earmarked for NIL I suppose
I'm guessing its far bigger than low 9 figures.
If its pod play, you've got 8 pods of 4 teams who play round robin. Every team gets 3 games.
Then maybe an 8 team tournament.
Thats nearly as many games as the NCAA tournament for TV. They'll be competing against the NFL and college football, but an early season tournament like that with high level teams, they could be talking 300 or 400 million easily.
They'll make similar deals with other conferences I'm sure.
So far, nobody is pulling out of the collage football playoffs, and that is highly skewed to one or two conferences
67 games for the NCAA Tournament, vs 48 games just for pool play. March Madness get $891M/yr under the current contract. I bet you are in the right ballpark for rights money.
Oh damn, I need to clear my schedule then. I need to go next year for sure. Be nice to back it up to a football weekend like this time.
For this tournament? Yes. I think it is the smart move for the Big 12. Glad they made it. They would be dumb not to.
You are in the ball park. One way for Big 12 to monetize its basketball product.
