Gonzaga Expected to Play in NIL Las Vegas Tournament in 2025

Matt Norlander of CBS Sports announced that an NIL-driven college basketball tournament will start next season with eight teams and then doubling to sixteen teams in 2025. What does this mean exactly?

The event will include $1 million NIL payouts to each of the participating schools. Players involved will have also have future earnings opportunities through long-term NIL contracts.

Major names in the college basketball scene will be participating. Alabama, Houston, Notre Dame, Oregon, Rutgers, San Diego State, Texas A&M, and one other program in 2024. Duke, Gonzaga, Kansas, Michigan, Syracuse, and Virginia have all engaged in discussions about playing in 2025. If they opt in, they’d be joined by most of the schools playing in 2024 (majority of those programs have signed three year deals for the tournament).

It’s still being decided where in Las Vegas this tournament will take place and it’s between T-Mobile Arena, MGM Grand Garden Arena, and Michelob ULTRA Arena. The games looked to be played on November 26th, 27th, and 29th (no games played on Thanksgiving).

The “Players Era Festival” is the expected name of this tournament and will also include live music and other attractions. This event is being put on by EverWonder Studio, a production company based in New York.

Arden Cravalho is a Gonzaga University graduate from the Bay Area… Follow him on Twitter @a_cravalho