NEW YORK, OCTOBER 22, 2024 – Players Era, an EverWonder Studio company, today announced that the inaugural 2024 Players Era Festival will now feature a Players Era Championship Day on the final day of the festival where a tournament champion will be crowned.
 
The 2024 Players Era Festival will take place Thanksgiving Week – November 26, 27 and 30 – at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, now operating as a single Multi-Team Event (MTE). The Tournament will maintain the Impact and Power Groups while adding the Championship Day on Saturday, November 30. The tournament's previously announced Tuesday and Wednesday schedule will become group play, while Saturday's action will feature to-be-determined matchups across the two groups, with pairings determined by the outcomes of the group play games.
 
Following Wednesday's games, each group will be ranked first through fourth, and after head-to-head record, seeding will be determined by total point differential in group games (capped at 20 points per game), then total points scored and fewest points allowed. The top seeds from each division will face off in the championship game, with the rest of the standings filling out the third, fifth and seventh-place matchups.
 
In addition to the $1 million in NIL opportunities that each team will have already earned for participating in ancillary events that are separate from participation in the event, Championship Day will include additional NIL opportunities for teams immediately following the games, including NCAA compliant on-call NIL opportunities.
 
This format change comes after the NCAA's Men's Basketball Oversight Committee granted a blanket waiver of certain NCAA MTE legislation for the 2024-25 season. Specifically, the committee granted a waiver for the legislation that provides that only one team per conference can play in the same MTE and that teams can only play in the same MTE once over a four-year period.
 
"Credit to NCAA President Charlie Baker and the Men's Basketball Oversight Committee, they are moving college basketball forward at light speed. A number of common sense changes are now happening under his leadership, and this means there will be hundreds of millions of dollars available to college basketball players. Players Era is proud to be a small part of this progress, now it's all systems go," said Seth Berger, CEO of Players Era. "The 2024 Players Era Festival, with the high caliber of teams and the $9 million of NIL compensation for the players was already going to be special. Now, becoming one tournament with a Championship Day, this has gone to the next level."
 
Festival Format and Schedule
The 2024 Festival will showcase eight top-ranked teams, competing in two groups, playing a partial round-robin format for the first two days of competition, where every minute of competition matters. The Impact Group will still feature Alabama, Houston, Notre Dame and Rutgers, while the Power Group includes Creighton, Oregon, San Diego State and Texas A&M.
 
In addition to the $1 million in NIL opportunities per team earned from engaging in ancillary events (e.g., autograph sessions, sponsor activations, community and charity service, etc.) separate and distinct from the team's participation in the Festival games during the week, there will also be an additional $1 million in potential NIL opportunities available for teams and players after competing in Saturday's Championship and Third-Place games.
 
The enhanced NIL value of these teams' players will be recognized by EverWonder and its sponsors with the opportunity to engage in NIL activities after the games while the players are still "on-call," with the enhanced NIL value of those teams estimated to be $500,000 for the first place team, $250,000 for the second place team, $125,000 for the third place team, and $100,000 for the fourth place team.
 
Complete Schedule (all games will be played at the MGM Grand Garden Arena)
 
IMPACT DIVISION
Tuesday, November 26
Houston vs. Alabama – 8:00 PM (EST) | TBS, Max
Rutgers vs. Notre Dame – 10:30 PM (EST) | TBS, Max
 
Wednesday, November 27
Rutgers vs. Alabama – 10:00 PM (EST) | TBS, Max
Notre Dame vs. Houston – 12:30 AM (EST) | TBS, Max
 
POWER DIVISION
Tuesday, November 26
San Diego State vs. Creighton – 2:00 PM (EST) | TBS, Max
Oregon vs. Texas A&M – 4:30 PM (EST) | TBS, Max
 
Wednesday, November 27
Oregon vs. San Diego State – 4:00 PM (EST) | Max
Texas A&M vs. Creighton – 6:30 PM (EST) | Max
 
CHAMPIONSHIP DAY
Saturday, November 30
7th Place Game (TBD) – 1:00 PM (EST) | truTV, Max
5th Place Game (TBD) – 3:30 PM (EST) | truTV, Max
3rd Place Game (TBD) – 7:00 PM (EST) | TNT, Max
Championship Game (TBD) – 9:30 PM (EST) | TNT, Max
 
TNT Sports is the Festival's exclusive U.S. broadcast partner, airing games on TNT, TBS, truTV and Max.
 
Players Era Festival is the inaugural event for the groundbreaking college basketball showcase and NIL company, Players Era, aimed at captivating fans and providing college athletes with opportunities to engage in unique name, image and likeness (NIL) activities. The Players Era Festival will feature at least 18 teams in 2025, adding several more preeminent men's basketball programs and with international-style group play and championship matchups.
 
About Players Era
Players Era was created to provide NCAA sanctioned NIL opportunities for college basketball players and to expand the fandom and reach of the game itself.
 
The Inaugural Players Era Festival will be a week-long celebration of college basketball, featuring elite teams, players and coaches, and creative and groundbreaking NIL activities surrounding the games.
 
While the debut event for Players Era will be the 2024 tournament in Las Vegas, 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. This will include additional content opportunities, including women's basketball tournaments, offseason events, nonfiction content and merchandising opportunities. 
 
About EverWonder Studio
EverWonder Studio is a best-in-class content studio and production company across Documentary, Live, Experiential and Brand Partnerships, led by multi-Emmy-winning Producer and executive Ian Orefice (TIME Studios) and backed by legendary media executive Jeff Zucker (CNN, NBCUniversal) and RedBird IMI. The studio's focus is on nonfiction subjects with worldwide appeal, transforming them into entertainment that has purpose and impact, and then expanding those projects as businesses across platforms, screens, and experiences. With projects that span sports, culture, and global affairs, EverWonder creates meaningful entertainment that sparks the imaginations of people around the world.
 
In addition to its documentary programming, the studio has hired Michael Antinoro as its President, created the EverWonder Live division, and announced an investment in Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour director Sam Wrench to launch a new production company Next of Kin Content. EverWonder is also teaming with Meadowlark Media on a documentary feature examining the dynamic relationship between tennis legends Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova, and announced a partnership with Emma Cooper's Empress Films to produce Who Killed Diana?, a three-part documentary series that will be the first project of a broader franchise.