Organizers of the inaugural Players Era Festival pulled off its promise of a loaded field and seven-figure NIL payouts.
www.sportsbusinessjournal.com
In its inaugural year, organizers of
the Players Era Festival -- the eight-team men's college basketball tournament in Las Vegas with “grandiose promises of a loaded field and seven-figure NIL payouts” -- “pulled it off,” according to Mark Zeigler of the SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE. Oregon coach Dana Altman said the tournament “made a great first impression," adding organizers “treated us really well.” Zeigler noted as for the money, that question “should be answered later this week.” Organizers said that the $1M promised to each program’s NIL collective “was placed in an escrow account before the event and will be released five days after it.” They noted that the idea behind the 2024 version of the event was “less to turn an immediate profit than grab control of November basketball and create, in their terms, the first leg of the sport’s triple crown with conference tournaments and the NCAA Tournament.” They noted it was a “rush to put together in a year amid shifting NCAA regulations," but the "thinking was if they didn’t, someone else would.” Next year’s event is expected to grow to 18 teams (
SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 12/1).
