Matchups have been set for the most anticipated regular-season event of the 2025-26 college basketball season, sources told CBS Sports. The Las Vegas-based Players Era Festival will feature 18 teams, all playing three games, with the ultimate prize of an additional $1 million to the team that wins the event.
Every school is already assured $1 million for participating; the straightforward incentive for additional financial rewards for the champion is a trailblazing concept in college sports, enabled by NIL legislation. (Impacts of the House case settlement on Players Era can be read further down in this story.)
It’s the second year of the groundbreaking event, which debuted in 2024 with eight teams (Alabama, Creighton, Houston, Notre Dame, Oregon, Rutgers, San Diego State, Texas A&M). Seven of those eight are back in 2025; A&M is no longer included after former coach Buzz Williams left for Maryland. The Terrapins are now in the fold.
Also joining this year: Auburn, Baylor, Gonzaga, Iowa State, Kansas, Michigan, St. John’s, Syracuse, Tennessee and UNLV. Many of the teams are poised to be ranked at the start of the season and/or when Players Era tips in late November. Among the notable matchups on deck for this year, per sources: St. John’s vs. Iowa State, Oregon vs. Auburn, Alabama vs. Gonzaga and Houston vs. Tennessee. Matchups for the event were inadvertently first leaked by the University of Michigan late Monday. The school published the schedule, only to soon delete its press release thereafter.
The 2025 event — which will be marketed as “November Mania” — will stage games at MGM Grand Garden Arena and Michelob Ultra Arena and be held the Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of Thanksgiving week (Nov. 24-26).
Four women’s teams — Duke, South Carolina, Texas and UCLA — will also participate in their own four-team tournament on Nov. 26 and 27. It’s a boon for women’s hoops, as South Carolina,…
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