The next edition of the Era of the players in Las Vegas will have more than $ 20 million in payments and a collection of the best teams in the United States.
After an accidental filtration of the calendar of the event of the week of Thanksgiving for Michigan on Tuesday, the sources confirmed the list, which will have 10 teams currently classified in the Top 25 Top 25 ESPN survey for the 2025-26 season, including the 10 best St. John's, Michigan and Houston squads.
Each team is guaranteed at least one payment of $ 1 million, a significant sum in the new climate of university sports after the house agreement. Last year, event officials paid schools directly for their participation. It is not clear how this season's payments will be distributed to align with the new rules, which has given each power conference school a limit of almost $ 20 million to directly give their athletes.
This year, the teams of the Festival of the Era of the players will compete on November 24 and November 25 both in the MGM Grand Garden Arena and in the Michelob Ultra Arena in Las Vegas with the opportunity to advance to the Wednesday championship game, which will include an additional payment to the winner, the sources confirmed.
The opening part of the women's event will also have a group of powers with South Carolina, Duke, UCLA and Texas, all compete to compete in Las Vegas that week as well.
This year's event on the male side will include Kansas (21), Creighton (22), St. John's (5th), Tennessee (23), Iowa State (18), Houston (3rd), Auburn (14), Alabama (17), Michigan (8) and Gonzaga (19).
Michigan-Auburn, St. John's-Iowa State and Alabama-Gonzaga are three of the main clashes in preliminary rounds.
After his team's race to the Final Four in April, Tahaad Pettiford retired from the NBA draft and returned to become the new leader of an Auburn squad with the dreams of the sec title. Michigan, who won the Big Ten tournament title last season, but lost Danny Wolf in the NBA draft, regrouped by adding the NBA Yaxel Lendeborg and other key transfers and other key transfers.
St. John's team by Rick Pitino could win again the Big East again if the transfer of providence Bryce Hopkins is healthy, while three of the headlines of a Iowa state team of a team that obtained a 3 seeds in the NCAA tournament are back. And both Alabama and Gonzaga will enter next season with the same objectives: win the first national title in school history.
The accumulation of last year's event met with skepticism, since the organizers promised seven -digit payments to the eight teams that agreed to participate in the opening issue. But those who played at the Festival of the Era of the players were impressed by the way it was organized. Seven of the eight teams that participated in the first event will return this year.
“I couldn't say no,” said Houston chief coach Kelvin Sampson, on last year's opportunity to win a seven -digit payment day for his players in the event.
The announcement of the board is significant because the Festival of the Era of the players has captured a large part of the best teams in the United States and the organizers of the event are intended to expand the field in the coming years. That reality has limited the group of scope and talent available for some of the other vacation tournaments (MTES) in November and December.
