The new era of NIL has crept into college basketball, and we now have tournaments with prize money that goes to the pockets of the winning team.
The Michigan Wolverines were selected to play in the Players Era Festival basketball tournament in 2025, a college basketball tournament at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. Each team will receive at least $1 million in NIL opportunities outside of the competition, and the winning team has a chance at additional money.
As of now, next year’s field includes Michigan, Baylor, Gonzaga, Iowa State, Syracuse, Saint Joseph’s and St. John’s, with a total of 18 expected to be involved.
This is not just a one-game tournament. Just last week, the Alabama Crimson Tide faced the Oregon Ducks in the tournament’s championship game. Alabama faced three Power Four opponents across five days to boost its resume and prepare for what lies ahead this year. According to Crimson Tide head coach Nate Oats, the experience was great:
“Yeah, we’ve always done an MTE,” Oats said. “Theirs [UConn’s] is a little different, they played three straight games. We’re planning on going back to the Players Era event. I thought it was great. The accommodations were great. You were in the same building that you played in at MGM. They did a great job taking care of us. The food was great. The competition was good. The best officials in the country are doing it. Yeah, we’re going back next year to the Players Era.”
Michigan head coach Dusty May already put the Wolverines in a few big non-conference matchups in his first season in Ann Arbor, most recently winning the Fort Myers Tip-Off by beating Virginia Tech and Xavier.
In a world with revenue sharing coming to college athletics as soon as next year, any NIL opportunities for sports outside of football could be taken advantage of.
