The Players Era Festival, a one-of-a-kind revolutionary regular-season men’s basketball event to be held in Las Vegas this November, has finalized its venue, game dates, broadcast partner, matchups and tipoff times, sources told CBS Sports.
The event, which was formally announced in June, will be played at MGM Grand Garden Arena on Nov. 26, 27 and 30 — the Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday of Thanksgiving week. Most of the games will broadcast via Warner Bros. Discovery’s channels (TNT/TBS/truTV); all games will be available via streaming on Max, sources said. An official announcement from WBD Sports is expected early next week.
Alabama, Creighton, Houston, Notre Dame, Oregon, Rutgers, San Diego State and Texas A&M have all committed to play in the event, with seven of those eight schools signed on for the next three seasons, sources told CBS Sports. (Oregon previously committed to the 2025 Maui Invitational.) In a college sports first, the Players Era Festival has also marketed itself with the allure of $1 million NIL payouts for all participating schools. Players will have future earnings opportunities through long-term NIL contracts, sources said. CBS Sports extensively reported on the details of the event in early May.
“The broader initiative will expand to add future events with the goal of continuing to grow the game of college basketball and create a year-round focus on the sport,” according to the event’s press release in June. “This will include additional content opportunities, including women’s basketball events, offseason events, nonfiction content and merchandising opportunities.”
There’s been lingering skepticism around college athletics over whether the event would be NCAA-compliant.
The multi-team event’s primary marketing/selling point is based on the one facet of the college sports landscape that has drastically changed the NCAA environment over the past three years:…
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