Creighton’s 2024-25 non-conference schedule took a staggering left-turn over the weekend, when word leaked that they were buying their way out of the Battle 4 Atlantis tourney in favor of the NIL-driven Players Era Festival in Las Vegas. Staggering? You bet. The Bluejays pulled out of one of college basketball’s marquee Multi-Team Events, televised annually in prime TV windows on ESPN, in favor of one in its first year with no TV deal (yet), no decision on where it will be played in Las Vegas, and no decision on whether it will be a single eight-team tourney or two separate four-team events.
Why?
Every school in the Players Era Festival earns a $1 million guaranteed payday to their NIL collectives, and the team that wins the event earns another $1 million. Players also have future earning opportunities through long-term NIL contracts facilitated by the tourney organizers. With that kind of money on the table, the better question is why not? Atlantis (and Maui, and the other top-shelf events) offer exotic locales and trophies. The Players Era Festival offers million-dollar contributions to your NIL collective without additional donor fatigue.
Direct pay-for-play remains (for now) against NCAA rules. So players will be required to participate in multiple off-the-court activities in Vegas the week of the tourney to earn a piece of the NIL money.
According to CBS Sports’ Matt Norlander, Creighton reached out to event organizers last week (on May 7) after reading Norlander’s initial report about the event having one spot open — and hoping to land a Big East team for it. The Jays quickly pounced and signed not just for 2024, but for 2025 and 2026 as well, smartly ensuring their NIL budget remains among the highest in the Big East (and beyond) with $3 million guaranteed headed to their NIL collective over the next three years. That athletic director Marcus Blossom and head coach Greg McDermott saw this opportunity and pivoted aggressively to make it happen deserves a lot of praise. It’s a no-brainer.
In fairness, the event is not without its detractors who are skeptical of its long-term viability. It’s financially backed by private equity, specifically RedBird International Media Investments, which is funded primarily by interests in the United Arab Emirates. Others lament what it could mean for the hierarchy of college hoops’ Thanksgiving tourneys, as events in Maui and the Bahamas that barely break even financially will either have to come up with millions annually to compete, or be reduced to second-rate.
Then there’s the question of NCAA rules. Schools can’t compete in the same MTE more than once every four years, yet Creighton (and others) will play in the Players Era Festival three years in a row. The workaround: the larger festival will serve as an umbrella, staging different MTEs with different names played at different Vegas arenas. So a school like Creighton would technically play in the festival three years in a row, but in different MTE’s within the festival — violating the rule in spirt, perhaps, but not legally.
But to most fans and followers of college basketball, those off-court storylines are background noise. From a competition standpoint, buying their way out of Atlantis to secure this opportunity and money is a coup that will (literally) pay immediate dividends.
The 2024 Battle 4 Atlantis is set to feature Arizona, Gonzaga, Indiana, Louisville, Oklahoma, West Virginia and Davidson — some of the biggest and most successful programs in the sport, and teams that Creighton (mostly) hasn’t played in recent years, if at all.
The field in Vegas is lighter on big names but arguably tougher in terms of quality, featuring Alabama, Houston, Notre Dame, Oregon, Rutgers, San Diego State and Texas A&M. But they’ve seen quite a bit of San Diego State (some might say too much), with games against the Aztecs in Vegas in 2019 in addition to the 2022 and 2023 NCAA Tournaments. They’re currently in the middle of a home-and-home series with Alabama, and will play in Tuscaloosa on December 14, just a couple of weeks after this tourney. And they just played former coach Dana Altman’s Oregon Ducks in the second round of the 2024 NCAA Tourney.
Many of those schools have also signed three-year commitments to the event; Duke, Gonzaga, Kansas, Michigan, Syracuse and Virginia have reportedly expressed interest in playing in the 2025 field should it expand to 16 teams as expected. It’s not hard to see a world where this becomes the biggest early season stage in college basketball.
Sources told Norlander that if the event opts for two four-team tourneys, the brackets would likely be: Creighton (Big East), Oregon (Big Ten), San Diego State (Mountain West) and Texas A&M (SEC) in one, and Alabama (SEC), Houston (Big 12), Notre Dame (ACC) and Rutgers (Big Ten) in the other.
The tourney is tentatively scheduled to tip on Tuesday, Nov. 26, with additional games on Nov. 27 and 29 sandwiched around Thanksgiving. And while broadcast rights haven’t been announced yet, it’s believed tourney organizers prefer streaming services (such as Prime Video or Peacock) versus linear television (like ESPN or FS1).