"Players Era Festival" in November in Vegas will funnel money directly to NIL collectives, which will then pay the players of the participating teams. Excerpts below are from https://www.cbssports.com/college-basketball/news/nil-driven-las-vegas-college-basketball-event-with-millions-paid-to-schools-is-nearly-finalized/
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Games will be played in November under the umbrella of an event dubbed the "Players Era Festival," which will also include live music and other attractions for fans amid the glitz of the Las Vegas Strip during Thanksgiving week. In a college sports first, the event will also include $1 million NIL payouts for eight participating schools. What's more, players involved will have future earnings opportunities through long-term NIL contracts, sources told CBS Sports.
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Alabama, Creighton, Houston, Notre Dame, Oregon, Rutgers, San Diego State and Texas A&M have all committed to play in the event, sources said.
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Plans are to double the size of the field, sources told CBS Sports, with 16 teams as the target for 2025 and beyond. Duke, Gonzaga, Kansas, Michigan, Syracuse and Virginia have all engaged in discussions about potentially playing in 2025. Sources from a few schools in that group told CBS Sports they anticipate playing in the event if it extends beyond 2024 and continues as planned with 16 teams in 2025. If they opt in, they'd be joined by most (if not eventually all) of the schools playing in 2024, many of which have already signed up for a three-year agreement, according to sources.
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The tournament would be unique in that the NIL collective of each participating school would be paid $1 million. Additional significant NIL opportunities (believed to be in the neighborhood of another $1 million) would be awarded exclusively to the winner or winners of the event, depending on the final bracket format(s). The money would then be distributed to athletes by the collectives. The athletes, while in Las Vegas, would be required to participate in multiple off-the-court activities to earn that NIL money. That quid pro quo agreement for NIL money is a key distinction and at the core of the appeal of the festival. Pay-for-play remains against NCAA rules. However, athletes can be paid for NIL work surrounding the actual games, which is the pitch here.
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The tournament will be financially backed by RedBird International Media Investments, a subset of RedBird Capital Partners, a multi-billion-dollar investment firm. RedBird IMI is an investment consortium majority funded by the United Arab Emirates.