The Players Era Championship (née Festival) is back in Las Vegas this week for its second edition, this time featuring 18 men’s basketball teams, including top-25 programs Houston, Michigan, St. John’s and Auburn. Since crash-landing onto the college basketball scene last season, the private equity-backed tournament, co-created by AND1 founder Seth Berger and RedBird IMI-supported EverWonder Studio, has upended financial expectations for schools participating in multi-team events (MTEs).

In its debut year, Players Era made a splash by guaranteeing $1 million in NIL money to each of its participating teams. This year, the financial ground has shifted, and Players Era has subtly massaged its messaging around its promised payouts for the current event, saying it “will feature over $20 million in guaranteed sponsor NIL activities” for the teams participating in both its men’s and women’s tourneys. 

Yet the old marketing stuck, and the million-dollar-per-team meme continues to reverberate, echoed uncritically in recent media reports from ESPN, The Athletic and Sports Illustrated, among others.

In reality, some teams are likely to emerge from this week’s MTE with far less than seven-figures in NIL money. And their commitments behind some deals appear far more extensive than what has been made public.

Consider the agreements that UNLV and the Friends of UNLV NIL Collective—previously run by Blueprint Sports—signed in June, which Sportico obtained through a public records request.

Under the deal, Players Era committed to providing $800,000 in NIL compensation to the collective, not $1 million. The remaining $200,000 comes in a separate “event participation agreement” paid directly to the university, which a school spokesperson said will be used to cover the program’s buyout for the Maui Invitational.

Although Blueprint was the signatory of the deal, UNLV said it is no longer using the troubled NIL consulting firm for any Players Era-related activity. Though the university insists the documents it provided to Sportico represent the most updated agreements, a Players Era spokesperson contends that more recent revisions have been made.

Per the agreements executed in June, UNLV agreed to buy 1,500 tickets to the event—500 for each of the three games—at a total cost of $202,500. The school can resell the tickets at any price but is responsible for absorbing any losses. Those ticketing requirements are mirrored in at least one of the other school’s contracts reviewed by Sportico.

As the hometown team, UNLV played the first game of the event Monday night against Maryland, losing 74-67 before an announced crowd of 3,581 that sparsely dotted the 17,000-seat MGM Grand Garden Arena.

UNLV’s agreement not only locked the Runnin’ Rebels into the MTE, but initially gave Players Era the right to “organize and facilitate” two separate regular-season matchups at UNLV’s home arena, the Thomas & Mack Center: UNLV vs. St. Joseph’s and St. Joseph’s vs. Syracuse. However, a St. Joe’s spokesperson said that when former head coach Billy Lange departed the program in September, the school exercised an opt-out with Players Era, and independently arranged for games between UNLV and Syracuse. St. Joseph’s lost on the road at UNLV last week and is slated to play at Syracuse on Dec. 11.

Attached to the UNLV collective’s agreement as “Exhibit B” was a draft, one-page release for athletes to sign that grants Players Era and its partners the irrevocable right to use their NIL for the duration of the 2025-26 men’s basketball season and postseason. Players Era’s partners include TNT Sports, which is broadcasting this week’s games.

The draft release also requires athletes to refrain from using their NIL to promote any other hotels, resorts, casinos or gaming companies—despite the NCAA already prohibiting athletes from endorsing all gambling entities—for a period of seven days before and after the Players Era Championship. The MTE commenced just three days after the NCAA reversed its decision to allow college athletes and athletic department staff to place bets on professional sports contests, following a series of recent gambling scandals involving both pro and college players.

In addition to MGM Grand Garden Arena, the Players Era Championship’s games are also being played at Michelob Ultra Arena, attached to the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino. 

UNLV’s campus is less than two miles away from both venues, so its deal doesn’t include the dedicated travel stipend found in other schools’ contracts. Rutgers, for example, was given a $50,000 stipend, according to a copy of its participation agreement. While helpful, that sum is typically insufficient to charter a flight for a college basketball team between New Jersey and Las Vegas.

Unlike UNLV’s contract, Rutgers’ agreement with Players Era did not include a “players participation fee,” indicating that whatever money was directed to the Scarlet Knights flowed through their NIL collective.

On Monday, Players Era and the Big 12 Conference announced a “landmark” agreement, in which Big 12 teams would receive eight “automatic bids” to future Players Era Championship events, beginning next season and going through 2030. However, Players Era already had existing deals in place with four Big 12 teams—Houston, Kansas, Baylor and Iowa State—raising the question how much of this announcement was a marketing play instead of meaningful growth. The deal reportedly includes a 15% equity stake for the Big 12 in the Players Era Championship, though neither side has released specific terms.

As ever, the devil is in the contractual details.

In this NIL era of college football, it’s starting to pretty much mimic the NFL pay model. That being said, VT can probably offer significant NIL to only 2 running backs, not 3. I think the 4 star Virginia high school running back is going to commit to VT, and probably was offered a nice NIL package for the flip to the Hokies. I think Hawkins gets his, but perhaps Overton peaks into the portal for offers. From a NIL budget constraint, I just don’t see being able to pay all 3, and I’m starting to get some vibes from Franklin that he’s going to be offering some high NIL to really good receivers in the portal. He keeps saying, receivers only have to get through one player and it’s 80 yards to the house, whereas running backs have go through 3 levels to go 80 yards. Just my thoughts but perhaps VT can pay all 3 running backs. Franklin has some tough decisions to make over the next 6 weeks. I personally think Miami and Florida State will come after Overton.

Greg McElroy predicted Lane Kiffin will take the LSU job, but conceded that Eli Drinkwitz would be their best backup option if he doesn’t accept. Currently, Kiffin is deciding between staying at Ole Miss or taking the LSU or Florida opening this cycle.

“I think it is the best job in college football that is currently open,” McElroy said on Always College Football. “When you look at the candidates, it’s pretty obvious. It comes down to two. Lane Kiffin is number one. (He’s) going to be the number one candidate for a couple of different places, and I think Lane Kiffin is very interesting in this entire conversation, because Lane Kiffin is an elite coach, especially in the modern era. There’s no denying what he’s been able to create, not even just at Ole Miss, but even in the time that he was at FAU prior to that he won a lot of games. 

“And I think with where the sport has gone, and kind of becoming a blend of the NFL and a blend of college football, there’s a little gray area between pro ball and amateur ball that we’ve always known about, right? There’s a little gray area now, and I feel like Lane Kiffin has found the right formula to having great success in the modern era by utilization of the portal being very attractive for skill position players like wide receivers and quarterbacks.” 

Kiffin and Ole Miss are expected to have some sort of decision or announcement following the Egg Bowl Friday. What that entails is anyone’s guess right now. If he stays, a successful coach like Drinkwitz might make a lot of sense for LSU, based on what he’s done at Missouri.

“I think all three are very much on the table right now,” McElroy said. There have been points in this process in which I thought for sure he was taking the Florida job. There have been points in this process in which I thought for sure he was going to stay at Ole Miss. I really believe that. I think he really has a great appreciation for what Ole Miss can provide him, because legacy, that’s the big thing that he can have at Ole Miss, is legacy … (But) I think Lane Kiffin is going to be the head coach of the LSU Tigers here at some point in the very near future … That will hurt for Ole Miss. For sure their program is in a far better position today to hire the next guy than they were prior to Lane Kiffin’s arrival. So I think Lane Kiffin is going to end up at all at LSU. 

“If he doesn’t, I fully expect it to be Eli Drinkwitz at Missouri, who has done a really good job in creating offense. They run the football at Missouri. That’s what LSU has done traditionally very well, is run the football, be good along the line of scrimmage, and then if you look to it, what Eli has done over the last six years, their defense has been excellent at times throughout the last few years, including this year, where they’re one of the best defenses in the country.”

MORGANTOWN — The introduction of NIL five years ago has made college football similar to the wild, wild west. There aren’t a lot of rules. 

Teams have taken advantage of the nonexistent guardrails and are dishing out wads of cash to pay players to compete for championships. Pair that with the transfer portal, schools can buy whoever they want. 

The duo of NIL and the transfer portal have seen immediate success. Last year, Ohio State rolled with its highly valued roster and won a national championship. This year, West Virginia’s opponent on Saturday, Texas Tech, accumulated a large amount of donor money to pay its roster, creating a monstrous defensive line. 

The Red Raiders, with their expensive roster, are a top 10 team in the country and the favorite to win the Big 12. Last year, Texas Tech finished 8-5, and now this year, it sits at 10-1 with a game to go.

“There was a lot made of it before the season, and rightfully so,” Rich Rodriguez said. “When they get a Power Four transfer, maybe he was doing okay at the Power Four. These guys were dominant at the Power Four level, and they’re dominant still at the Power Four level. They picked the right guys, evaluated very well, and they’re coached well, too. It’s not just great players. They’re coached really well, and I’ve been really impressed by how hard they play all those guys. There was a lot made of it, before the season, rightfully so.”

There have been attempts to even the playing field so that college football doesn’t become the MLB, where there is no salary cap. To start, this June, a court ruled in favor of athletes, allowing schools to directly pay athletes through revenue sharing. There was a set cap of revenue-sharing money at $20.5 million, and the College Sports Commission was created to oversee the NIL deals and create guardrails. 

But that didn’t mean there was a cap on NIL. Schools, or more correctly, donors, can pay players on top of the money used through NIL. There were no boundaries, so schools like Texas Tech can still have lucrative costing rosters.

Last Wednesday, the College Sports Commission sent out an 11-page participation agreement to all Power Four schools that would create limitations on NIL and revenue sharing, shortening the gap between the rich schools and the poor. 

Rodriguez is in favor of the agreement.

“I would,” Rodriguez said on signing the agreement. “I think a majority of the schools probably would. It’s kind of fair and equal across the board, like a true salary cap, like the NFL has.”

That’s easy for Rodriguez to say, though. WVU isn’t in a position to spend millions of dollars on a roster. Athletic director Wren Baker spent all summer trying to accumulate deals to reach the revenue-sharing allotment. Baker’s working on getting extra cash, but WVU is not there yet.

Schools like Texas Tech, who have money, are hesitant to sign the agreement. 

“But if I’m one of those schools that have more and can do more, I can see why they’re saying, ‘Oh, we got more. Let us do more,’” Rodriguez said. “I understand where they’re coming from.”

It’s more than just buying players, though. The New York Mets and Yankees had two of the highest payrolls in baseball, and neither were even in the conference championships. The Los Angeles Dodgers spend a lot of money, but they’ve used the money wisely, which is why they’ve won back-to-back World Series. 

The same goes for college, and Texas Tech, so far, has paid the right players. 

“They evaluated the right guys,” Rodriguez said. “They did a great job of evaluation, first off. I don’t know what everybody on the roster is getting paid, but it seems to me that they distributed in the right way, and they’re getting their guy, all their guys played really hard.”

The rest of college football is taking notes on how Texas Tech used its money in the right places. It’s not a new idea, either. The Red Raiders saw what Ohio State did a year ago, and pretty much did the same thing. WVU will try to take as much as possible from Texas Tech after this year.

“I’m sure,” Rodriguez said. “We are. I think everybody is. You study people who are doing well. Why are you winning? Obviously, you got the right players, you got the right staff, you got the right facility. There’s usually a multitude of reasons that you have so much success.”

The Mountaineers brought in a lot of players through the transfer portal, 70-plus. Most of them were paid, and a lot of them haven’t panned out. Two quarterbacks on its roster haven’t won a game. 

Charlotte quarterback transfer Max Brown hasn’t completed a pass all season. Most of WVU’s transfers have also been injured, too. 

There’s a little luck when it comes to building a roster.

“You got to be fortunate, too,” Rodriguez said. “There’s always a little bit of guesswork. They got to stay healthy, too, right? Say a guy you bring in and evaluate, you hit on his evaluation, he’ll be a great player, but then he gets banged up, and he can’t play well. Maybe you did everything right, you just had bad luck. There’s always going to be some luck or some fortune involved in that as well.”

Right now, there is no salary cap on NIL or on how much a team can spend. Rodriguez might want change, but that might not happen for a while. So for now, Rodriguez is working with what he’s got and figuring out ways for WVU to close the gap.

“You can sit there and complain about it, or you can say, ‘What do we do to overcome that team, or teams that can simply buy more players more than you because they got more NIL money? I think every coach can sit and complain about it. I think the better avenue is, how do we solve that problem? Whether it’s fundraising or evaluation or what have you. Try to make sure that gap doesn’t determine wins and losses.”

Data provided by Student Athlete Score

(Nov. 25th, 2025) — The NIL era continues to accelerate heading into the holiday season, with brands tapping into athletes across football, basketball, gymnastics, cheer, and track this past week. From national names like Puma, Crocs, Celsius, Monster Energy, and Motorola to mission-driven local campaigns like Wisconsin’s “Keep Wisconsin Warm/Cool Fund,” athletes are activating meaningful partnerships across the country. Here’s a look at the standout NIL deals from the week of November 17th, 2025.