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Early-season college basketball tournament seem to have gotten better and better in recent years. Years ago, it was really just the Maui Invitational that got people’s attention, but now there are multiple top-flight tournaments and events.
Now, a new tournament is popping in Las Vegas that could become the premier in’season tournament in the sport. But, there are some questions over the legality of the tournament with current NIL rules.
Here’s Front Office Sports with more.
A first-of-its-kind men’s college basketball tournament launching this fall will offer up to $2 million in name, image, and likeness deals to participating teams.
The tournament, dubbed “Players Era,” will host eight teams this fall at MGM Arena in Las Vegas and 16 teams starting in 2025. The event will be operated by EverWonder Studio (which was created by former Time president Ian Orefice and backed by RedBird IMI and Jeff Zucker) and AND1 CEO of basketball Seth Berger. EverWonder hasn’t yet secured distribution but is in talks with both linear and streaming-based broadcasters.
The tournament operator is guaranteeing that sponsors and other tournament partners will offer each school a total of $1 million in NIL money for participating. 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 winning team will be eligible to earn another $1 million, to be distributed in the same way.
Some of the biggest
Here’s the problem. Even after recent NCAA setbacks, it’s still illegal for pay-for-play or pay-for-performance for college athletes.
Recently, the NCAA lost in court when Tennessee, among other states, sued to stop regulations on NIL collectives that entice athletes to attend a certain school. The NCAA was regulating these collectives, but a Federal Court essentially said they couldn’t do this anymore.
However, as said previously, pay-for-play and pay-for-performance are still illegal after that ruling.
Law news website JD Supra says this.
Baker’s letter implicitly acknowledged that Judge Corker’s injunction suspends existing NCAA rules that prohibit third parties and/or boosters from communicating with prospective or current student-athletes or from negotiating NIL compensation before players commit to a certain school. However, Baker also asserted that Judge Corker’s ruling was limited and in fact “upheld” other long-standing NCAA rules that prohibit direct institutional payments, “pay-for-play” or NIL compensation for specific athletics performance. Baker’s characterization of the ruling “upholding” the rules is a misnomer—the rules were not challenged.
Even if they go through collectives to give money to winning players, isn’t that just a distinction without a difference? How will this be legal under current NCAA rules? It probably won’t matter, because it seems like nothing matters in college athletics anymore.