Eugene Rapay, Des Moines RegisterWed, November 26, 2025 at 11:08 AM UTC·7 min readLAS VEGAS — Does the Players Era Festival ruin college basketball Feast Week by watering down the competition at other long-standing MTEs and tournaments, or is the loaded Las Vegas event part of a revolutionary future?
It's been a subject of debate among die-hard college basketball fans.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThere are kinks to work out, but for Iowa State basketball and the Big 12, they will be locked in Las Vegas for at least a few more years.
On Monday, Nov. 24, the Big 12 Conference and Players Era announced a six-year, $50 million equity partnership.
The Players Era Festival isn't fading away anytime soon. It is expected to expand to 32 teams next year, with eight spots automatically going to Big 12 teams as a result of the new partnership.
"Every year, the Big 12 continues to prove that the strength of their programs, the strength of their players, their coaches, that the Big 12, without question, is our first partner," Players Era CEO Seth Berger said. "When this idea came up, it was because we went to them. ... We talked to all the conferences, but if we got to pick one to start with, without question, it's Brett Yormark and the Big 12."
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementIowa State is one of 18 teams competing in the second edition of the Players Era Festival. Last year, in the event's inaugural tournament field, there were only eight teams.
Every participating team is guaranteed $1 million in NIL funds, with an opportunity to earn bonus payouts if they win the event or place high enough.
Iowa State is already contracted to appear in the Players Era Festival for two more years, according to athletic director Jamie Pollard, so return trips to Las Vegas were already in the Cyclones' plans.
"Just excited about, first of all, being part of it this year, because we'd heard about it last year, but we were in Maui, so just the opportunity to experience the tournament," Pollard said. "Secondly, (the Players Era-Big 12 agreement) demonstrates commissioner Yormark's continued forward thinking and innovation to be able to buy a percentage ownership in the tournament, because not only does it guarantee us eight teams, but it also has a financial component for the whole conference going forward."
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementWhat the Players Era Festival means for Iowa State men's basketball
This year's tournament field is already an impressive one, so your imagination can only think of the possible powerhouses that may be enticed to play in the expanded 32-team field.
The Cyclones earned a couple of wins, which will only bolster their NCAA Tournament resume, particularly the 83-82 victory over No. 15 St. John's, the reigning Big East regular-season and tournament champion.
Future editions of the Players Era Festival will feature many marquee matchups on a national stage, so it's only beneficial for Iowa State to be competing.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementAlso, to top it all off, there's $1 million in guaranteed NIL for showing up. The title-winning team could potentially earn an additional $1 million. The runner-up is entitled to $500,000, while the third-place finisher can get $300,000 and $200,000 for fourth-place.
"It's confirming and I'm excited for Cyclone fans, because this is a national tournament," Pollard said of getting the invitation to the Players Era. "I think it speaks to how other people are starting to view Iowa State basketball under T.J. (Otzelberger)'s tenure that would become one of the premier programs in the country, because we continue to stay in the top 25."
How will Iowa State distribute the NIL funds earned from Players Era?
The much-publicized $1 million NIL payment from the Players Era Festival goes towards allowing the Iowa State athletic department to reach the $20.5 million revenue-sharing cap from the House settlement of this academic year.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThe House settlement officially went into effect on July 1 and has been in play starting with the 2025-26 season.
As part of the settlement, schools began contributing back pay to athletes for the next 10 years who competed from 2016 to now. It also allowed schools to opt into revenue-sharing agreements with current athletes that will send up to $20.5 million per school to athletes.
"That was just part of his overall revenue-share allocation," Pollard said of the awarded Players Era NIL funds. "This $1 million is part of the entire amount that he has for his program and so he gets to decide how he wanted to do that when he set it up."
For Otzelberger, he already installed a plan over the summer for how NIL will be divvied up and awarded to players.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement"Everything's based on merit, and what's been proven up to this point in time," Otzelberger said over the summer, in the days leading into the House settlement going into effect. "We don't play favorites in our program, everything's about the hard work and to for us, that's what it's going to be about.
"Regardless of what anybody gets, the guys who are getting playing time are going to get the playing time. That's how we continue to keep our culture, our team mentality and our winning habits in line."
How the Big 12-Players Era partnership will work
Starting with the 2026 Players Era Festival, teams that finish in the top eight among the Big 12 Conference standings will receive automatic invitations to the following year's event. This will occur until 2030.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementBig 12 teams that are already under contract with Players Era — Iowa State, Baylor, Kansas, Houston — will be guaranteed one of the eight spots for the duration of their contracts.
In the event one of those four teams places outside of the top eight this year, they would still get one of the eight guaranteed spots.
Players Era is also pledging $50 million to Big 12 basketball programs in rights fees over the next six years, according to Berger.
Players Era Festival future: 32-team field, the unique format vs. a traditional tournament bracket
According to Berger, there are currently 26 teams already locked in for next year's 32-team field.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThe field will be split into four 8-team groups, each with preset matchups. Every team is guaranteed three games once again, but the top-finishing team in each group will be used to determine the championship game and third-place consolation match participants.
The same tiebreaker and format, which places heavy emphasis on point differentials, will be utilized once again. There will just be even more teams, results and outcomes to sort through.
This year, Iowa State drew the short end of the stick as the only team to go unbeaten at Players Era but miss out on any of the NIL prize games. The Cyclones narrowly missed a spot in the championship and third-place games, after tiebreaking procedures were applied.
Iowa State's +19 point differential in wins over Creighton and St. John's, fell just short of Kansas' +21 point differential (wins over Syracuse and Notre Dame) and Tennessee's +23 applied point differential after beating Tennessee and Rutgers.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementBerger doesn't ever envision switching to a traditional bracket-style format.
"We're trying to bring November basketball to more casual fans, so one of the things we have to do is continue educating about why our format is unique and it's exciting," Berger said. "In this format, every shot matters, every basket matters, every minute matters.
"Like we saw earlier today, Kansas was fouling (Syracuse's William Kyle III) to put him on the free-throw line to keep trying to get more opportunities for extra possessions and they ended up picking a couple extra points up. As people get comfortable with it, it'll be one of the positive things about the event, understanding it's brand new."
Eugene Rapay covers Iowa State athletics for the Des Moines Register. Contact Eugene at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at @erapay5.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Iowa State basketball NIL distribution, Big 12-Players Era agreement
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