Jeff EisenbergSenior writerTue, November 25, 2025 at 1:50 PM UTC·7 min readWhen the founders of college basketball’s newest Thanksgiving week tournament first invited his program to participate several years ago, Houston coach Kelvin Sampson thought their offer seemed too good to be true.
Organizers of the Players Era Festival guaranteed that participating schools would receive $1 million in NIL money to distribute to their players.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement“Man, get out of here,” Sampson recalls thinking. “Ain’t nobody going to believe that.”
Over the next few months, Sampson jumped on Zoom calls with the tournament’s co-founders and with representatives of the private equity firm financially backing it. His skepticism gradually melted as he learned that the Players Era Festival already had major corporate sponsors lined up, that those sponsors would be providing the NIL opportunities and the payouts and that the NCAA had been consulted to avoid potential rules violations.
Sampson is candid when asked why Houston became the first school to commit to participating in the inaugural eight-team Players Era event in Las Vegas last November. The veteran coach told reporters in Houston last Friday that the infusion of cash is huge for his program at a time when ballyhooed high school recruits and prized transfers are requesting six- and seven-figure NIL payments.
“Right now, the schools with the most money get the best [players], especially in the portal,” Sampson said.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement“You can be the greatest recruiter ever. If you ain’t got enough money, you ain’t going to get your guy. Simple as that.”
The appeal of those NIL payouts has helped the Players Era Festival rapidly displace the Maui Invitational as college basketball’s premier early-season tournament. Top-tier programs eagerly snatched up invitations to Las Vegas for this week’s sophomore edition of the Players Era after the tournament built credibility last November by paying participating schools on time and in full.
This year’s 18-team field is loaded with powerhouse programs accustomed to playing deep into March. Twelve schools are receiving votes in the current AP Top 25. Ten have reached the Final Four in the past decade. Seven are former national champions. Houston, Michigan, Alabama and Gonzaga are currently the highest-ranked teams. Iowa State, St. John’s, Tennessee and Auburn aren’t far behind them.
The emergence of the Players Era tournament is a threat to the stature of other Thanksgiving week staples like the Maui Invitational and Battle 4 Atlantis. Those tournaments can no longer rely on the allure of high-level competition, destination locations and significant media exposure to attract name-brand programs.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementEighteen months ago, the Maui Invitational unveiled a 2025 field that included Baylor, Oregon and UNLV. Those three programs subsequently backed out of their commitment and opted to participate in the Players Era tournament instead, forcing Maui organizers to scramble to find potential replacements.
When the 42nd edition of the Maui Invitational tipped off Monday in Lahaina, the lack of highly ranked teams and name-brand programs was striking. Only NC State is ranked in the current AP Top 25. Only Texas made last year’s NCAA tournament. Those two were joined by Arizona State, Boise State, Seton Hall, USC, Washington State and host Chaminade.
Options were even scarcer for the Battle 4 Atlantis, especially after Auburn pulled out to join the Players Era tournament and Ohio State also withdrew. What’s left is undeniably the weakest field in the tournament’s 14-year history, consisting of Vanderbilt, Colorado State, Saint Mary’s, South Florida, VCU, Virginia Tech, Western Kentucky and Wichita State.
The Players Era tournament could siphon more teams away as soon as next season if the event follows through on its plans to expand to a field of 32. That seemingly would only ratchet up the pressure on organizers of the Maui Invitational and other tournaments to adapt by finding sponsors or investors willing to provide similar NIL opportunities and payouts.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementA spokesperson for the company that manages Maui Invitational and the Battle 4 Atlantis did not return a message from Yahoo Sports seeking comment. Attempts to reach other officials at the Maui Invitational were also unsuccessful.
When asked last Friday if tournaments in Maui and the Bahamas were “in danger in the future,” Kansas coach Bill Self chose his words carefully.
“That’s up to the organizers and the event and the promoters to see if they can do whatever the Players Era is doing,” Self told reporters. “So I don’t think they’re in danger unless maybe they don’t make some adjustments.”
In other words, other tournaments will have to pony up to attract programs with the stature of Kansas. Why would the Jayhawks pay to travel to Maui when another high-profile tournament is offering to pay them to participate?
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementIf the Maui Invitational fails to adapt and someday goes the way of the Preseason NIT or the Great Alaska Shootout, that would be a major blow to a sport that already struggles to gain attention during the regular season. Watching elite teams battle in a jam-packed high-school-sized gym in Lahaina has been a Thanksgiving week mainstay for decades.
Who can forget Adam Morrison’s 43-point barrage in Gonzaga’s riveting triple-overtime victory over Michigan State in the 2005 Maui semifinals? Or giant-killing Ball State toppling No. 4 Kansas and No. 3 UCLA on back-to-back days in 2001? Or the 2023-24 Maui Invitational that featured five of the preseason top 11 teams in the country?
The Players Era tournament may one day provide similar indelible moments, but for now it lacks the soul and charm that has made Maui special. Half-empty arenas in Las Vegas don’t provide the same atmosphere as a sold-out Lahaina Civic Center.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThen there’s also the Players Era tournament’s maddening, needlessly confusing format. This year’s edition has no bracket, no easy way for a fan to understand what their team needs to do to win the tournament.
The 18-team field is split into two pods. Ten teams are playing at MGM Grand Garden Arena and eight are playing at Michelob Ultra Arena. Each team will play two games within their pod on Monday and Tuesday. The teams that finish first in their pod will then meet Wednesday in the Players Era championship game.
How will the tournament organizers decide between 2-0 teams? The tiebreakers are margin of victory over two games, total points scored, total points allowed and AP ranking as of Monday, November 24.
This is something the Players Era organizers may have to fix if they hope to create an event that will draw bigger crowds and appeal to TV viewers. Right now, the event feels more like a three-day showcase for some of college basketball’s top teams than it does a meaningful tournament.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementOf course, all of that is a secondary concern to Sampson. What’s most important to his program, he admits, is the money.
When Houston first accepted an invitation to take part in the inaugural Players Era tournament last year, other Big 12 coaches called Sampson to better understand why he was comfortable taking that risk. Sampson says he explained the financial aspect to them and told them, “You guys are crazy if you don’t do it.”
On Monday, a little over a year after those conversations between Sampson and his peers, the Big 12 announced a multi-year, $50 million equity partnership with the Players Era. Eight Big 12 teams will gain automatic entry into the tournament beginning in November 2026.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement“We’re going to do this every year it’s available,” Sampson told reporters on Friday. “I believe in donor fatigue. The more we can go do ourselves without having to ask other people, I think that’s our responsibility.”
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