LAS VEGAS -- Seth Berger, the CEO of the Players Era Festival, said the winner of the event's championship game Wednesday will receive an additional $1 million in name, image and likeness compensation.
The loser, meanwhile, will earn $500,000 in what will be college basketball's first $1.5 million game.
In addition, the winner of Wednesday's third-place game will secure a $300,000 NIL payout; the loser of that matchup will take home $200,000 in such funds.
Berger said Tuesday that all 18 participants in this year's Players Era Festival will receive "over $1 million on average" in NIL compensation, with the teams here all having to participate in legitimate NIL ventures all week.
"With the NIL opportunities, the kids actually have to perform activations, marketing services, social media postings, and so we make sure that each kid, each athlete is meeting fair-market value for that," said Berger, who was careful to avoid calling this week's event a pay-for-play tournament. "And again, it's in excess of a million dollars on average per team."
In 2026, the field will expand to 32 teams. The Big 12 will send eight teams as part of a new $50 million equity partnership with the conference.
Berger said this year's event is already profitable in its second year. He said the women's event -- South Carolina, Texas, UCLA and Duke will play Wednesday and Thursday -- will lose money this year, but he expects that portion of Players Era to grow in the future.
While some fans have been confused by the Players Era format -- margin of victory, record, point totals and head-to-head records will determine Wednesday's title-game match -- Berger likened it to an AAU event. He also said the format will not change when the field expands to 32 teams.
"The system, over time I think, will be pretty simple and understandable to fans with what we're trying to do here," Berger said. "This kind of happens every single weekend when you go to an AAU event. We're trying to bring November basketball to more casual fans, so clearly one of the things we have to do is continue educating about why our format is unique and why it's exciting in this format. Every shot matters, every basket matters, every minute matters."