Players Era Festival, the early-season college basketball tournament making waves by guaranteeing hefty NIL payouts for athletes on the competing teams, is reportedly seeking a monster TV deal, but no one is taking the bait.
According to a report by Daniel Libit and Eben Novy-Williams of Sportico, Players Era is looking for a broadcast agreement that would pay it more than $50 million annually. Per the report, the $50 million figure is a “significant reduction” from what Players Era had previously sought from networks, though it is still much higher than what other early-season college hoops tournaments command.
“There have been no takers,” Sportico says of the $50 million asking price, with some sources saying the price far exceeds what any potential broadcast partner would be willing to pay. Other multi-team events, as these tournaments are called, make “little or no money from selling their broadcast rights.”
This season’s tournament was generally seen as a success, commanding solid audiences on TNT Sports for the 18-team men’s competition during Thanksgiving week. Players Era intends to expand beyond 18 teams next season, though it’s unclear exactly how many teams that will be.
The tournament has come under fire recently for being late on its promised NIL payments to participating schools. In a report from Sportico earlier this month, schools including Oregon, UNLV, and Iowa State were all still waiting on payments to be transferred, despite it being past the contractually agreed-upon date. Oregon was also still owed money for travel reimbursements and a buyout the school paid a different multi-team event after opting out to join Players Era.
A lucrative media rights deal would certainly seem to help what appears to be a cash-strapped tournament.
In November, Sports Business Journal reported that Players Era was “in discussions” with ESPN, Fox, Netflix, and TNT for new media rights agreements.
If the tournament is able to develop a sustainable way to bring some of the top college basketball teams in the country together to compete for a cash prize each year, there’s going to be interest from fans. However, it seems Players Era might have to recalibrate its expectations for media revenue, which could trickle down to the NIL payments that make the tournament unique.
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.