NIL Based In-Season College Basketball Tournament Set To Pay $2 Million To Winning Team

College basketball is set for another first-time event in the new NIL era, thanks to an in-season tournament. 

In a story released on Friday, Front Office Sports is reporting that a new basketball tournament is set to be held next season, with the winning team receiving $2 million in NIL payouts. 

The NIL-based tournament will have eight teams participating in the first year, which will be held at the MGM Arena in Las Vegas in November 2024 This is truly a one-of-a-kind type event, that would see each participant receive $1 million to play. 

According to the report, tournament organizers guaranteed that the winning team would receive a payout of $2 million, which would go towards current players on the roster. 

"That money will be funneled to collectives, boosters, or other NIL entities, and the coaches and teams will be able to distribute that money however they see fit, as long as the money goes to current players," the report states. "The winning team will be eligible to earn another $1 million, to be distributed in the same way."

This sounds like a great idea for the sport, though I'd imagine there will be a few hurdles leading up to the tournament when it comes to conference payouts. 

WINSTON SALEM, N.C. - Wake Forest Demon Deacons fans storm the court after a win over the Duke Blue Devils at Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum on February 24. Wake Forest won 83-79. (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images)

The tournament is being called the "Players Era", and sounds very similar to ‘The Tournament’ that has been held in recent years, where players from former schools come together to play for $1 million that is equally dispersed between teammates. 

I, for one, would love to see this type of competition play out, especially with that much money on the line for the winning teams. According to FOS, there has not been a deal struck yet when it comes to broadcasting the event, but that there have been discussions with streaming-based companies, along with linear networks. 

The teams that this tournament is reportedly targeting for the event would surely grab the attention of college basketball fans. FOS reports that Duke, Houston, Kansas, Rutgers, Oregon, San Diego State, Syracuse, Alabama and Virginia have had discussions about participating. 

If this event comes to fruition, this will certainly add intrigue to the early portion of the college basketball season, which is already filled with tournaments like the Maui Invitational and others. The only difference is that the ‘Players Era’ tourney is promising that the players will be paid to play, along with a gigantic check to the winning team.