Sports Court NIL Newsletter | NIL Tourney

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Author

Tariq Ahmad
March 11, 2024

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Today’s Case

In-season men's college basketball tournament to offer $2M in NIL deals

Rack of NCAA basketballs (Photo Credit: thespun.com)

NIL might be going next level very soon.

A proposed non-conference basketball tournament will offer up to $2 million in NIL deals to the players that participate. The tournament, which is expected to be played in the MGM Arena in Las Vegas on Thanksgiving weekend, is expected to host eight teams in 2024 and expand to 16 teams in 2025.

According to On3 Sports, each team invited would get a $1 million guarantee in NIL money, which would be shared either with the school’s collective or NIL arm. The money would be shared with the players for that team. The tournament’s winning team would get another $1 million in NIL funding.

On3 reported that Alabama, Duke, Florida Atlantic, Houston, Kansas, Oregon, Rutgers, San Diego State, St. John’s, Syracuse and Virginia are all on the list of potential participants.

Front Office Sports reported the tournament’s creation, which will be called Players Era. EverWonder Studio and AND1 CEO Seth Berger will operate the event.

The Verdict

  • This is the way

    • It was inevitable that NIL would eventually tie in to on-field/on-court performance; this tournament is a direct indicator of that influence.

    • This also gives a preview of the presumed future of college sports: one that includes revenue share for colleges and student-athletes.

  • Sharing the revenue with the collectives/NIL group is a smart move

    • I support the idea of sending the funds to the groups managing NIL activities, as these organizations may also use the money to spread the wealth amongst other teams supporting the same school.

    • This also seems to be a workaround of paying the team to participate in the tournament without directly paying the team itself or the school.

  • Not everyone supports this

    • A major drawback of this tournament is that the outcome (money received) is based on output (team performance).

      • Because of this, you might not be able to truly call this NIL because athletic performance is not connected to brand deals for college athletes.

    • Additionally, how are teams selected? And what would prevent teams from receiving an invite? (From looking at the above list, it seems like teams with good to very good teams are being considered, whereas dozens of other schools deserve an opportunity as well.)

Over 10K athletes have opted in to EA CFB 25!

However, there is one notable exception. Watch this video to find out who!

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