John LeuzziUSA TODAY NETWORK
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Viva Las Basketball.
Perhaps that phrase won't catch traction, but for the next couple of days, Las Vegas will be at the center of the college basketball world as the one-of-a-kind Name, Image and Likeness Players Era Festival tournament has finally arrived.
The three-day college basketball multi-team event will take place at MGM Grand Garden Arena with some of the top programs in the country, including Alabama, Houston, Creighton, San Diego State, and Oregon. Rutgers and Notre Dame also are included in the eight-team field.
Watch Players Era Festival games live with Sling TV
The marquee game of the 2024 Players Era Festival will take place on Tuesday when No. 9 Alabama clashes with No. 7 Houston at 8 p.m. ET. Tuesday night's matchup is not only a potential foreshadowing of a Final Four or national championship game but also features two of college basketball's biggest stars in Alabama's Mark Sears and Houston's L.J. Cryer. Alabama has the No. 3 ranked adjusted offense on KenPom while Houston has the fourth ranked offense, so there is also that to look forward to for those who are into college basketball analytics.
Apart from Sears and Cryer, Creighton center Ryan Kalkbrenner and Rutgers freshman duo Ace Bailey and Dylan Harper are some of the intriguing players who will be competing in the Players Era Festival.
Being the driving force behind the invitational itself, NIL will serve to be a that will make the Players Era Festival different than other Feast Week events — in fact, it is what made several teams pay an exit fee from another MTE to appear in the Players Era Festival. Each team will receive $1 million for participating in the event, while players and teams will have the opportunity to earn more NIL while in Las Vegas with long-term NIL contracts and championship winnings.
Here's everything you need to know about the 2024 Players Era Festival, including who is in the bracket, game schedule, TV schedule and streaming information and more:
Watch Players Era Festival games live with Sling TV
When is the Players Era Festival 2024?
The first two days of the 2024 Players Era Festival will take place on Tuesday, Nov. 26 and Wednesday, Nov. 27. The invitational will then pause for two days for the Thanksgiving holiday before resuming on Saturday, Nov. 30, when the "playoffs" of the invitational will take place.
Where is the Players Era Festival 2024?
The Players Era Festival will be held at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. Located along the Las Vegas Strip, the MGM Grand Garden Arena can hold a capacity of nearly 17,000 people.
Players Era Festival 2024 teams
The first edition of the Players Era Festival will consist of eight teams, with four of them being teams that were ranked in the most recent USA Today Coaches Poll top 25.
Here's a full list of the team that are competing in the 2024 Players Era Festival in Las Vegas:
- San Diego State
- Creighton
- Oregon
- Texas A&M
- Houston
- Alabama
- Rutgers
- Notre Dame
Players Era Festival 2024 bracket
The Players Era Festival will be broken up into two brackets: Power Group and Impact Group.
San Diego State, No. 19 Creighton, Oregon and No. 20 Texas A&M will make up the Power Group side of the bracket, while No. 7 Houston, No. 9 Alabama, Rutgers and Notre Dame will be in the Impact Group side of the bracket.
Each team will play each team in their respective side of the bracket. From there each of the eight teams will be seeded one through four in their respective groups based on overall record. The top two teams from each bracket group will place in the championship game while the second highest teams from each group will play in the third place game and so one.
To view the complete schedule, click here.
Watch Players Era Festival games live with Sling TV
Players Era Festival 2024 scores, schedule
(This section was updated with new information)
All times Eastern
Tuesday Nov. 26
- Game 1 (Power Group): San Diego State 71, Creighton 53
- Game 2 (Power Group): Oregon 80, Texas A&M 70
- Game 3 (Impact Group): Alabama 85, Houston 80 (OT)
- Game 4 (Impact Group): Rutgers 85, Notre Dame 84
Wednesday, Nov. 27
- Game 5 (Power Group): Oregon vs. San Diego State | 4 p.m. | Max (Streaming Only)
- Game 6 (Power Group): Texas A&M vs. Creighton | 6:30 p.m. | Max (Streaming Only)
- Game 7 (Impact Group): Rutgers vs. Alabama | 10 p.m. | Max (Streaming Only)
- Game 8 (Impact Group): Notre Dame vs. Houston | 12:30 a.m. | TBS (Sling TV)
Saturday, Nov. 30
- Game 9 (seventh-place game): Impact 4 seed vs. Power 4 seed | 1 p.m. | truTV (Sling TV)
- Game 10 (fifth-place game): Impact 3 seed vs. Power 3 seed | 3:30 p.m. | truTV (Sling TV)
- Game 11 (third-place game): Impact 2 seed vs. Power 2 seed | 7 p.m. | TNT (Sling TV)
- Game 12 (championship game): Impact 1 seed vs. Power 1 seed | 9:30 p.m. | TNT (Sling TV)
How to watch Players Era Festival 2024? TV schedule, streaming info
- TV channel: TBS | truTV | TNT
- Streaming options: Sling TV | Max
The majority of the Players Era Festival will be broadcast nationally on the Turner family of networks of TBS, truTV and TNT. The Players Era Festival championship game and third-place game on Saturday, Nov. 30 will be broadcast on TNT.
Three of the four games — Oregon vs. San Diego State, Texas A&M vs. Creighton and Rutgers vs. Alabama — on Wednesday, Nov. 30 will be exclusively streamed on Max, Turner's subscription streaming service. You can also stream the Players Era Festival on Sling TV which carries the Turner family of networks.
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