College basketball tournament in Vegas pays players, shakes up sport - Athletics

"These kids are like professional athletes," says one industry expert."They don't care about swimming with dolphins. They want to get paid."

LAS VEGAS — In 1987, Bruce Pearl thought he had found basketball heaven: Maui.

The Maui Invitational is the first preseason tournament in most of college basketball's 40 years.Pearl, then an assistant at Iowa, loved the waves, the sand and the small community indoor gym.But most of them, everyone on the college basketball court would love to practice for a week in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

“I’m an old-school guy, so man, I’m going to be excited to go to Lahaina (Civic Center),” said Pearl, the recently retired Auburn coach who won the event with the Tigers last November.“You dream that one day, as a head coach, you get to coach in Maui.”

Or at least you used to.

But today, long-established groups like Maui and Battle 4 Atlantis are facing a serious threat.This week the age of the players competing in Las Vegas pay directly - Netting a team name, image and quality.The competition does not reveal the amount of money that was decided, but they were created by the University of the University Project and managed by the accounting firm Deloitte.The next step is to go to Nil, the house is clean.

For the second time in a row, the competition has schools asking questions about the exchange of hundreds of thousands of balls Thanksgiving-this week for trips to the Faraway Islands, especially during the period when they dominated the dollar and the feeling of the dollar.

"These kids are like professional athletes," Lee Miller-Toole, CEO of Complete Sports Management, longtime event organizer and founder of Battle 4 Atlantis, said in 2011."They don't care about swimming with dolphins. They just want to get paid."

After debuting with eight teams last season and getting off to a good start, Players Era has expanded to 18 teams, eight of which are currently ranked in the top 25, and will expand to 32 teams next season.With more than $50 million in payouts already secured over the next two seasons, according to founder Seth Berger, it's understandable that teams are lining up to get a piece of the pie.

It's no surprise, then, that this season's field is a true preview of the Sweet 16. This week, No. 3 University of Houston, No. 7 University of Michigan, No. 8 University of Alabama, No. 12 Gonzaga University, No. 14 St. John's University, No. 15 Iowa State University, No. 17 University of Tennessee, No. 21 Auburn University and the newly ranked University of Kansas, along with hundreds of credentialed media, gathered in Sin City.Member and NBA Scout.

By comparison, Maui has a top 25 team in the No. 23 state of NC.Battle of Atlantis 4 only has Vanderbilt #24.

Players Era is financially backed by Redbird IMI: a media joint venture between private equity firm Redbird Capital Partners and Abu Dhabi-based International Media Investments.Last season, all the attention on the actual games in Las Vegas was probably more on December 5, the day payouts were due.

But when they did, concerns that Players Era seemed too good to be true spread.Even as skepticism remains in some circles, the Big 12 and Players Era announced a five-year stock deal on Monday that guarantees the Big 12 eight spots per season, with Players Era paying those teams' players more than $50 million through 2030.

Signs promoting the event, which also includes a four-team women's tournament, line the Strip, from cardboard cutouts scattered throughout the casinos to flashing electronic billboards on the side of the MGM Grand, which houses one of two gymnasiums in use this week.It's easy to spot punters wearing Iowa State and Gonzaga jerseys, even though the event takes place between the F1 race and Thanksgiving.

Some college basketball insiders say the three biggest events this season are March Madness, the conference tournament ... and the Players Era.

Berg, who founded the basketball insurance company and1 in the '90s, said this is the best basketball in college basketball outside of March.

When asked what other tournaments could do to survive, Kansas coach Bill Self didn't mince his words.

"I would say it's going to be up to the promoters and promotions to see if they can do all the things the players do," he said."I don't think they're in any danger; maybe they'll make some changes."

In 2023, Berger decided to create a tournament that would directly reward players.He knew he needed a massive program to get on board first, especially if he wanted to attract the level of competition needed to disrupt long-held norms for non-conference scheduling.After some early conversations, Houston was interested - but wanted more information on the financial part.How would Players Era most likely come up with all that money?

"Anytime you do something new, people don't question it," Berger said."In fairness to them, I doubt myself."

So Berger set up a meeting with Houston coach Calvin Sampson and Berger's co-founder Ian Orefice, founder of production company EverWonder Studios and a liaison with Redbird IMI.

"Eventually it became comfortable that the million dollars would be there," Berger said, "and honestly, once Coach Sampson said yes, the rest of the dominoes fell very quickly."

Six of the seven teams from last season's inaugural event, including Alabama and San Diego State. It's back this year, but it tops the programs Berger added in his second year, including Kansas, Gonzaga, Tennessee and St.John's, which catapulted the player era straight into another stratosphere. Berger said 26 of the 32 teams for next season have already signed.Louisville, Florida and Virginia are the latest additions to the brand.

Berger said next season's 32-team field — a format he envisions for Players Era in the near future — will feature eight groups of four teams that will compete in the two or more weeks leading up to Thanksgiving, also known as the holiday week.Then the top seed from each group flies to Vegas for an eight-team bracket to crown the eventual champion.That means even teams that don't qualify for the Las Vegas Sectional still get three high-quality non-conference games to bolster their NCAA Tournament berths.Under the new format, not all teams will receive $1 million, according to CBS Sports.

The number of glowing patches and eye-openers around the player era and round 0 only contrasts that event with legacy tournaments.

Coaches and athletes participating in Maui and Atlantis participate with flights, meals, etc., which can cost the program anywhere from $2550,000 to participate.One school, which participated in both events last year, says it costs the same as playing field trips to grow.

Other tournaments often go first, which kicks off the NCAA playoffs.

"It just doesn't make sense, as special as these tournaments were," said a senior member of the planning team, who agreed to remain anonymous in exchange for his candor.

The player's game of the season is no better for voting, but $1 million in revenue for the season.

Tom Valdiserri, executive vice president and general manager of Kempersports, the organizing agency that hosts Maui and Battle 4 in Atlanta, said there is nothing on the table that would change these events.

Valdiserri also noted that Maui celebrated the event's 40th anniversary last season - a huge success, especially when the tournament returned to Maui after the devastating wildfires - and that there is "no end in sight" to the ESPN television deal.

"I'm not going to speculate on any other event," said Valdisseri, "but throughout history we've seen them come and go. And there are a couple that have managed to pass the test of time."

The Players Era may be the biggest threat to tournaments like Maui and Atlantis, but it's far from the only one, including that of the NCAA itself.

In June, the NCAA enacted legislation that changed long-standing scheduling rules.Under the previous settingsSchools are allowed to play a maximum of 31 games if they participate in multi-team events.The regular season schedule would otherwise be limited to 31 games, but by the 2026-27 season all schools will be allowed a 32-game, multi-team schedule.It will reduce the need to organize events.

After more than a decade running Battle 4 Atlantis, Miller-Tooley stepped down this offseason to focus on what she believes is becoming the new "centerpiece" of non-conference programming: neutral site games.

"They get paid. They can control their schedule. And they know who they're going to play," Miller-Dooley said, adding that some of the neutral-site tournaments she hosts fall within a week.

The goal of a non-conference game at a neutral site is to hit close to home. That ranges from $500,000 to $1 million on average for the top 25 teams, according to the U.S. Department of Education and several program officials.But depending on the school's brand – location and location – it's possible that some neutral games could be more profitable than home games.

This week alone, Duke plays Arkansas in Chicago, North Carolina plays Michigan State in Fort Myers, Florida, and UConn plays Illinois at New York's Madison Square Garden.

"We have as many alumni in Atlanta as Auburn, more actually," said Pearl, who calls the players as an analyst for TNT."We go to Birmingham and we have more alumni there. So I love regional neutral sites."

There would be another bad thing, according to most of the staff and teachers, going to something like Maui or Atlantis.Not only are the teams spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to go play these games, but in doing so, there is also a chance that the national games will not be held in good locations.It's, say, a school that pays $500,000 to go to the maui invitational for a week.This is the only cost;A million dollars can also be obtained by playing two home games, or 1.5 million dollars can be obtained by creating a careless place.

This only adds to the financial strain on athletic departments, which are more desperate than ever for money to keep up with their rivals.

"College sports have never been an arm-to-arm race," Miller-Tooly said."Teams want to play neutral games where they get paid to play."

When asked this week about the involvement of Houston, Sampson was clear why the cougars are in Las Vegas.

"We have no choice. Do you see our budget? Do you see our fundraising? We have to raise money," Sampson said.

Berger said Players Era is profitable this year.through a combination of ticket sales, sponsorships and television partnerships.with room for growth in the coming season.While the championship may be in doubt in the long run,More and more teams participated and it became a non-conference staple in November.Berger is even more optimistic about the future.

"(There's) a number of teams that we've had that tell us that we're building our Quad-1 schedule moving forward around the age of the players," Berger said, "as opposed to matching the age of the players."

What is Maui?Atlantis'?Unmatched lineups have dominated November's college basketball slate since last season.

There is no information - as there is no question based on current country of origin, or.

"My heart really breaks for Maui. Maui needs financial support after the fires," Pearl said."But no, I see the future of the Maui Invitational really changing...the best teams are going to find games to play against the other best teams."