The 2024 Players Era Festival was an early-season men's college basketball tournament. It was first edition of the Players Era Festival and was played from November 26 to November 30, 2024. Oregon won the tournament.
Overview
The tournament was created to give each team at least $1 million toward each team's Name, Image and Likeness (NIL).[1]
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.[2]
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.[3]
Teams
Rankings from the AP poll
Bracket
Power Division
|
|
| Game 2
November 27
Max
| | | | | | | |
| Oregon
| 78
| | |
| San Diego State
| 68
| |
| Game 2
November 27
Max
| | | | | | | | 20
| Texas A&M
| 77
| | | 21
| Creighton
| 73
| |
|
Impact Division
|
|
| Game 2
November 27
TBS/Max
| | | | | | | |
| Rutgers
| 90
| | | 9
| Alabama
| 95
| |
| Game 2
November 27
TBS/Max
| | | | | | | |
| Notre Dame
| 54
| | | 6
| Houston
| 65
| |
|
Championship Day
[4]
| 7th Place Game
November 30
TruTV/Max
| | | | | | | | 21
| Creighton
| 80
| | |
| Notre Dame
| 76
| |
| 5th Place Game
November 30
TruTV/Max
| | | | | | | | 20
| Texas A&M
| 81
| | |
| Rutgers
| 77
| |
|
| 3rd Place Game
November 30
TNT/Max
| | | | | | | |
| San Diego State
| 73*
| | | 6
| Houston
| 70
| |
| Championship Game
November 30
TNT/Max
| | | | | | | |
| Oregon
| 83
| | | 9
| Alabama
| 81
| |
|
All-Tournament team
MVP in bold[5]
Broadcasting
TNT Sports holds the exclusive rights to broadcast the 2024 Players Era Festival. Games aired across TNT, TBS, TruTV and Max. All games additionally streamed on Max, two games were exclusive to the streaming service.[6]
The broadcast teams were as follows:
- Brian Anderson, Grant Hill, Allie LaForce
- JB Long, Candace Parker, Lauren Jbara
References
- ^ "Players Era Festival Event Overview".
- ^ "NCAA Memo Fuels Questions About Big-Bucks NIL Hoops Event". August 21, 2024.
- ^ "Multimillion-Dollar NIL Hoops Tourney to Finalize Plans Soon".
- ^ "Players Era Festival: Schedule, teams, TV channels, streaming for the college basketball event". NCAA.com. NCAA. Retrieved 28 November 2024.
- ^ "Taylor Named to Players Era Festival All-Tournament Team". Texas A&M. December 1, 2024. Retrieved November 25, 2025.
- ^ "TNT Sports to Exclusively Televise 30+ Men's & Women's College Basketball Games During Thanksgiving Week (Nov. 26-30) Across TNT, TBS, truTV & Max". TNT Sports. November 20, 2024. Retrieved November 24, 2025.