Players Era Tournament moves to ESPN, expands to 24 teams

The Players Era Tournament has quickly become the highest-profile regular-season event in college basketball, and in its third year, it will be even bigger.

ESPN has acquired the rights to the Players Era Tournament, which aired on TNT in its first two years. This year, the field is expanding from 18 to 24 and will be split into two tournaments over two weeks in November in Las Vegas. During the week of November 16, “The Players Era Eight” will square off, featuring Florida, Houston, Kansas, Auburn, West Virginia, Notre Dame, Rutgers, and UNLV. The field doubles for Thanksgiving week with “The Players Era Sixteen,” headlined by reigning national champ Michigan, which also won the Players Era title in 2025. The Wolverines will compete against Alabama, Gonzaga, St. John’s, Louisville, Tennessee, Iowa State, Miami, Texas Tech, Baylor, Maryland, TCU, Oregon, Creighton, San Diego State, and Kansas State.

Having two separate Players Era champions will be a little weird, but the move to two separate brackets eliminates the awkward point system used in last year’s 18-team event, which gave each team two scheduled games and then determined each team’s third game based on record and scoring margin. The brackets, schedule, and venues will be announced later this offseason. All 37 games will air on ESPN’s networks.

Thirteen of the 24 teams made the 2026 NCAA Tournament. Eight of the 24 are from the Big 12, thanks to a five-year partnership between the conference and the event. When the Players Era Tournament launched in 2024, all eight teams that participated were paid $1 million, with an additional $1 million to the champion, Oregon. Last year, the event expanded to 18 teams, but payouts were complicated by mandates from the College Sports Commission. According to Matt Norlander, the majority of those NIL payments have gone through, but some schools and players are waiting for their deals to be cleared by NIL Go. Event organizers told Norlander that this year, some schools (like Kansas) will earn more than others, with the average payout being just over $1 million.

What about Kentucky?

So, why isn’t Kentucky part of events like this? At his introductory press conference, Pope said one of his goals was to take the program back to the Maui Invitational. That’s where reality comes into play. Last year, Pope told Norlander that Kentucky would need to be paid close to $5 million to participate in an event like the Players Era Tournament or the Maui Invitational to make up for the revenue it would lose by not having three home games.

By that math, Kentucky brings in roughly $1.6 million per home game, which, by itself, is more than it would make by going to Vegas or Maui for the week. That’s a bummer for fans, but an unfortunate reality in the revenue-sharing era of college sports. It’s also why you don’t see other blue bloods like Duke, North Carolina, UConn, or UCLA in the event, and why Kansas is making more than any other school to participate.

Pope continues to beat the drum for a 40-game season, which could help pave the way for Kentucky to participate in events like the Players Era Tournament. This year, the schedule increases from 31 to 32 games. Baby steps.