Women’s college basketball is set to feature a stacked Thanksgiving week tournament next year.
According to a report by Talia Goodman of On3, Players Era, operator of the Players Era Festival men’s basketball tournament which debuted during Thanksgiving week last month, will expand to include a women’s tournament next year. The event will feature four of the sport’s highest profile teams: South Carolina, UCLA, Duke, and Texas.
The tournament, which will be called the Players Era Women’s Championship and take place in Las Vegas, will use a round-robin format where every team plays each other and a champion is determined by head-to-head record at the end of the event. Tiebreakers like point differential and points scored will be used in the case where multiple teams finish with the same head-to-head record.
Notably, the Players Era Women’s Championship will include NIL incentives similar to the men’s tournament. The 2024 Players Era Festival allocated $9 million of NIL activities to the players involved. Each women’s program will receive $1 million in NIL funds for participating in 2025.
Though no media partner has officially been announced for the women’s event next year, the 2024 men’s tournament was broadcast across the TNT Sports family of networks.
Players Era CEO Seth Berger told On3, “Women’s college basketball continues to drive an unprecedented level of excitement and engagement, and this incredible lineup with four national championship contenders is going to transform what’s possible for women’s college basketball early-season competition and is going to be one of the most anticipated sports events of the year.”
The 2023-24 women’s college basketball season shattered viewership records, with the national championship game between South Carolina and Iowa outdrawing the men’s final a day later. And while viewership likely won’t be as large this year with phenom Caitlin Clark now playing in the WNBA, audiences have still held relatively strong thus far this season.
No doubt given the teams involved, this tournament will become a tentpole event on the women’s college basketball calendar.
[On3]
About Drew Lerner
Drew Lerner is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and an aspiring cable subscriber. He previously covered sports media for Sports Media Watch. Future beat writer for the Oasis reunion tour.