Players Era Festival bracket

• Men's College Basketball

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There’s a new player in the game of early season college basketball events, and it has disrupted the typical Thanksgiving week highlights like the Maui Invitational and Battle 4 Atlantis. While those tournaments are still happening, the best field is now at the 2025 Players Era Festival, an event that puts cold hard cash in the NIL purses of its participants and offers resume-boosting opportunities months before Selection Sunday.

The Players Era Festival debuted last season as an eight-team tournament that featured an epic final when Oregon defeated Alabama. The million-dollar guarantees to every participant sounded too good to be true to some, but every program ended up being paid what they were promised. The Players Era Festival has now expanded to 18 men’s teams, and also includes four women’s teams for the first time. It’s not a traditional bracket, but instead splits the men’s teams into two groups of nine before expanding to 32 teams next year.

Monday Nov. 24 and Tuesday Nov. 25 are loaded with great men’s college basketball matchups from noon until after midnight. The top finisher in each group will meet on Wednesday for the championship game. Here’s a look at the upcoming games:

The winner of the pods ahead of the championship game will be determined by overall record, and there’s matchups for third place and every other consolation game included, too. The lowest-finishing teams will conclude the tournament on Thursday. Here’s what the tiebreaker order looks like:

• 1) Overall record
• 2) Head-to-Head
• 3) Plus/Minus Tiebreaker with maximum of 20 points
• 4) Total Points Scored
• 5) Total Points Allowed
• 6) AP Poll ranking

We’ll update the Wednesday and Thursday schedule once it’s announced. Here’s the schedule for the 2025 Players Era Festival for now.

Players Era Festival money

Competing in the Players Era Festival guarantees at least $1 million for every team’s NIL funds. There’s another $1 million up for grabs based on how teams perform.

All in, the Players Era Festival is reportedly giving away $30 million in prize money.

Men’s Players Era schedule

• Monday, Nov. 24
  • Tennessee vs. Rutgers, 1 p.m. | TNT
  • Baylor vs. Creighton, 2 p.m. | truTV
  • Kansas vs. Notre Dame, 3:30 p.m. | TNT
  • St. John’s vs. Iowa State, 4:30 p.m. | truTV
  • Houston vs. Syracuse, 6 p.m. | TNT
  • Oregon vs. Auburn, 8 p.m. | truTV
  • Alabama vs. Gonzaga, 9:30 p.m. | TNT
  • Michigan vs. San Diego State, 10:30 p.m. | truTV
  • Maryland vs. UNLV, 12 a.m. | TNT
• Tuesday, Nov. 25
  • Rutgers vs. Notre Dame, 1 p.m. | TNT
  • Iowa State vs. Creighton, 2:30 p.m. | truTV
  • Kansas vs. Syracuse, 3:30 p.m. | TNT
  • St. John’s vs. Baylor, 4:30 p.m. | truTV
  • Houston vs. Tennessee, 6 p.m. | TNT
  • Michigan vs. Auburn, 8:30 p.m. | TNT
  • Gonzaga vs. Maryland, 9:30 p.m. | truTV
  • Oregon vs. San Diego State, 11 p.m. | TNT
  • Alabama vs. UNLV, 12 a.m. | truTV
• Wednesday, Nov. 26
  • Game 1 Consolation, 1 p.m.
  • Game 2 Consolation, 3:30 p.m.
  • Third-Place Game, 7 p.m. | TNT
  • Game 3 Consolation, 8 p.m.
  • Championship Game, 9:30 p.m. | TNT
  • Game 4 Consolation, 10:30 p.m.
  • Game 5 Consolation, 12 a.m.
• Thursday, Nov. 27
  • Game 6 Consolation, 2 p.m.
  • Game 7 Consolation, 4:30 p.m.

Additional men’s matchups will air Nov. 26 and Nov. 27 based on the first two days of competition.

Women’s Players Era schedule

• Wednesday, Nov. 26
  • Texas vs. UCLA, 2 p.m. | truTV
  • Duke vs. South Carolina, 4:30 p.m. | truTV

Thursday, Nov. 27

• Thursday, Nov. 27
  • Championship Game, 8 p.m. | truTV
  • Third-Place Game, 10:30 p.m. | truTV

• Men's College Basketball

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