A memo from the NCAA’s men’s basketball multiple-team events ( MTEs ) that appears to implicitly address, if not cast doubt on, the new Players Era Festival in Las Vegas, which has agreed to pay$ 1 million to each of the NIL collectives of its eight participating teams, was distributed on Tuesday.
The event, which is set to take place from Nov. 26-29 at T-Mobile Arena and/or MGM Grand Garden Arena, is a combined production of EverWonder Studio—led by media professional Ian Orefice and financially backed by RedBird IMI—and Seth Berger, the co-founder/CEO of AND1 and long-time kids basketball coach of Westtown School in Pennsylvania.
With a lot of media attention and business eyebrow-wracking, Players Era was unveiled in May. It has the potential to change the NCAA’s stated legislation against using NIL money as a form of pay-for-play, or to raise the stakes even further. It might turn out to be a magnificent failure. Or something in between.

The relatively costly first-time function has yet to officially announce its sponsors, a spread or streaming companion, or its schedule schedule despite only three months away. EverWonder has, however, just engaged advertising company Intersport to control the festival’s operations, according to people familiar with the situation, while signaling that it will immediately provide a common status update.
While the tournament failed, at least initially, to land marquee blue-bloods like UConn, North Carolina, Duke or Kansas, the specter of seven-figures in NIL money proved too good to pass up for a number of programs that finished last season ranked in the AP Top 25: Alabama (# 3 ), Houston (# 4 ), Creighton (# 13 ) and San Diego State (# 17 ). Texas A&amp, M, Rutgers, Notre Dame and Oregon pack out this month’s area.
In a two-page Question record sent Tuesday to game providers and schedulers, and obtained by Sportico, the NCAA reiterated that its rules make it “impermissible” for players to get NIL money in exchange for participating in an MTE, even if that money is first routed through a shared. EverWonder, which formerly has said it’s been working with the NCAA, has sought to identify the income it is paying to cooperatives as being tied to sport “NIL options” with” partners outside of contest”.
According to portions of its “talent provider and management” agreements reviewed by Sportico, EverWonder has agreed to three-year deals that commit the studio and its unnamed “partners” to paying$ 3 million through 2026. Additionally, the agreements state that EverWonder must give the collectives the funds within 15 days of the event taking place. If EverWonder determines that it is “unable to operate any or all of the 2024 event, the 2025 event, or the 2026 event”, it can pay each collective a termination fee of$ 250, 000.
The agreements further state that participating athletes will be “requested to participate in marketing, sponsorship, endorsement and other promotional activities, and to make public appearances”. These specific NIL activities will be “later specified”.

The EverWonder and the schools ‘ event participation agreements, which do not mention the NIL money, are distinct from these collective agreements.
In a June press release, Orefice anticipated that the tournament would yield”$ 50 million in NIL compensation activities, all within NCAA guidelines” within its first three years.
Another problem that was raised in the NCAA memo on Tuesday was whether the Players Era tournament format flies. The festival purports to be composed of two distinct, four-team MTE’s: Impact MTE and Power MTE. This most recent structure seems to address the NCAA’s prohibition on two teams from the same conference competing in the same MTE at once. ( This year’s festival features two SEC schools, Texas A&amp, M and Alabama, and two from the Big Ten, Oregon and Rutgers. )
Still, the NCAA’s memo suggests that the event would require some interpretive generosity—or a thick veil of ignorance—to pass muster.
” Even if the MTE is structured in such a way ( e. g., divisions/brackets ) in which two teams from the same conference will not play each other, two teams from the same conference may not participate in the same MTE”, the association wrote.
When reached on Tuesday, a Players Era spokesman declined to comment, and the NCAA did not respond to emails sent to two of its representatives.
The fate of Players Era has become a source of endless text message chatter in college basketball circles and consternation among rival tournament operators since Berger began pitching college head coaches late last year and whether it would live up to its hype.
Players Era has received criticism from a number of rival event organizers, who spoke to Sportico anonymously. Given that most MTE’s typically bring in$ 1 million to$ 3 million of revenue, the prevailing question, beyond Players Era’s NCAA permissibility, is its financially viability. Without tapping some rich, yet-undiscovered revenue stream, it would seem destined to end its first year with a sizable seven-figure deficit.
Players Era plans to expand to “at least 18 teams” by 2025, and already claims commitments from Gonzaga, Michigan, St. John’s, Syracuse and Saint Joseph’s.