CHARLOTTE, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — Next season, men’s college basketball players may have one more opportunity to put money in their pockets. An in-season tournament will reportedly feature eight teams in 2024 and possibly more in 2025.
Participating teams receive up to two million dollars in name, image, and likeness (NIL) deals with $1 million if they win.
“It’s the newest thing and NIL and the ever-changing landscape of college athletes,” says sports and entertainment attorney Melinda Morris Zanoni with Apollo Group Law.
Multiple reports say the tournament will be called Players Era at MGM Arena in Las Vegas. Each participating team is guaranteed at least $1 million in NIL dollars; programs will hand out the cash as they see fit.
Big names like Duke, Virginia, and Kansas are projected to be the first few teams joining.
“What’s going to need to be amended is teams can only do one multi-team event a season. And there’s some teams that have been invited to the players era that are going to have to withdraw from the MTE (Multi-team event) that they’re already participating in,” Zanoni said.
It changes individual NIL deals as well.
“It takes NIL to the next level yet again it allows these universities to boost their NIL coffers. The issue I see as a sports attorney is, is it even NIL because it sure looks like pay-to-play to me, which of course, is banned,” Zanoni questioned.
Zanoni says it will heavily affect recruiting.
“You’ll notice that it’s all big-name schools that have been invited to the players era. It’s bluebloods. So it’s yet another example of the rich getting richer. So of course, I mean, kids want to know two things when they sign up to play for school, how much playing time am I going to get and how much money am I going to make? How do you recruit against that if you’re not invited to play in that tournament,” she said.
On Friday, Gov. Roy Cooper took executive action rescinding state rules guiding NIL compensation issued in July 2021 after the NCAA announced it would allow nil payments to college athletes.
“Within days of the NCAA’s announcement that college athletes could benefit from their NIL, we put these rules in place at the request of colleges and universities to make sure they had the tools they needed to compete at the highest level,” said Cooper. “While these rules were helpful earlier in the process they are no longer necessary and I want to thank our colleges and universities for working with us so closely.”
His action in 2021 helped North Carolina universities remain competitive once nil was allowed for college athletes.
“It’s the first, but it’s certainly not the last. I mean, this is the future,” Zanoni said.
