Big 12 agrees to five-year, more than $50 million deal with Players Era to field at least eight teams in NIL event

Matt Norlander is on the Vegas Strip, bouncing back and forth between the two arenas hosting this year’s Players Era Championship. He will provide regular updates and insider information throughout each day of the event, so check back often. This is his Monday notebook.

LAS VEGAS — The Big 12 is entering the stock market. But through investments, not through loans.

The conference, Players Era and EverWonder Studio jointly announced a partnership Monday that will guarantee the participation of eight of the league’s 16 teams in the Players Era Championship over the next five years.

The 18-team event, which pays out millions to schools and players, will expand to a field of 32 teams in 2026 and beyond, Players Era organizers told CBS Sports. The expansion plan and economics of how Players Era is accomplishing something unprecedented has caused a lot of backlash around college basketball.

In exchange for at least 25% representation in Players Era, the Big 12 hopes to make a lot of money back on its stake.

“Over the next six years, Players Era will spend no less than $50 million in rights fees on Big 12 basketball programs,” said Seth Berger, co-founder of Players Era.

The league is represented in the 2025 field by Baylor, Houston, Iowa State and Kansas. The informal agreement is to send the top eight teams in the Big 12 standings at the end of each season to the following season’s Players Era event, although that won’t be a hard and fast rule. For example, Arizona will likely be a top eight team in the Big 12 this season, but the Wildcats will play in the Maui Invitational in 2026.

“If a school has upfront commitments, we will never harm a school, but ultimately in the long run the vast majority of schools [the top eight] There will be 12 major schools playing every year,” Ian Orefice, co-founder of Players Era, told CBS Sports.

The Big 12 could potentially grab more than eight of the 32 spots, as Kansas, Baylor, Houston and Iowa State all have Players Era deals through the end of the decade, Berger told CBS Sports, with Kansas having the longest at six years and Houston a “lifetime” deal as long as Kelvin and/or Kellen Sampson coach the Cougars.

“The Big 12 Conference is excited to expand our partnership with Players Era,” said Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark. “The tournament is a great platform to showcase our conference, student-athletes and coaches as the best in college basketball, and we look forward to making Players Era a top national event.”

“Think about it: If you anchor Players Era with the top eight Big 12 teams every year, this is already the best event in the country,” Orefice said. “With the commitments we have now received from the Big 12 and the best teams in the country, we believe we are where we need to be to ensure Players Era’s longevity. We want all the best teams, so we are actively talking to some of the other selected schools to figure out where we end up in 2026 and beyond.”

In addition to the 18 teams participating in this year’s event, other teams that recently agreed to participate in Players Era include Louisville, Florida, Virginia, Miami and Texas A&M. Should all 18 schools playing in 2025 return for 2026, that would mean 24 of the 32 spots for next year have been secured, said Berger, who has been involved in in-depth discussions with a few more schools trying to secure spots in the coming weeks.

Players Era is under constant scrutiny from competitors for its claims of being a sustainable long-term model. The event will pay out more than $20 million to schools this year and has received major sponsorships from Geico, MGM Resorts, Publicis Groupe, Lilly, Sam’s Club and more.

“The 2025 men’s tournament itself is profitable,” Orefice said. “We are extremely proud that we have made the financial commitment to schools.”

According to sources, other major leagues were approached by Players Era about multi-year deals that would guarantee representation at the event, but the Big 12 was the only conference willing to make the commitment. Monday’s announcement is the next step in what organizers see as a massive evolution of what has now overtaken the Maui Invitational as the most prominent non-conference regular season event in college hoops.

Berger and Orefice told CBS Sports they hope to secure a four-year media rights deal by the end of December. They have had discussions with ‘four premium distributors’. Players Era is currently owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, and the games will be broadcast on TNT and truTV.

“I think we’re very close to getting this done. And when it’s done, I think the number of teams looking to fill these last remaining spots will be high,” Berger said. “I feel like this is an opportunity to make a global impact for thousands of college basketball players.”

2026 FORMAT: The 2026 Players Era includes four pools of eight teams. The Big 12 will have at least two teams per group, with the expectation that the Big 12 schools will not play against each other in the group stage. The tournament will last approximately three weeks in November 2026, with 16 teams one week and 16 more the next. From there, in a final phase, the four champions from each group will play exclusively as the “Four Kings” of their respective pools, with all four schools earning prize money totaling approximately $1 million. The winners of each group/pool will be determined based on the record, head-to-head ratios, margin of victory (with a limit, so as not to increase the score) and points per match allowed as a tiebreaker.

“There were a lot of people who challenged the premise that early-season college basketball can generate meaningful revenue for the event organizer and for the broadcast networks, which is usually left to season packages, conference championships and March Madness,” Orefice said. “If Players Era makes up even 10% of March Madness, it will be a major financial success for the players, the schools and everyone involved.”