In-season college basketball invitational tournament to offer $2 million NIL payouts

Another new innovation will be introduced to college sports in the NIL era, this time in the form of a new in-season men’s college basketball tournament that will offer up to $2 million in NIL deals to the participating teams, according to a report by Front Office Sports on Friday. 

According to On3, the teams that are in talks to participate in the tournament include Alabama, Duke, Florida Atlantic, Houston, Kansas, Oregon, Rutgers, San Diego State, St. John’s, Syracuse and Virginia. The eight-team tournament dubbed “Players Era” is slated for Thanksgiving weekend and will be held at MGM Arena in Las Vegas.