Michigan Dominates the Player's Era Tournament

By: Manny Shklar

December 15, 2025

Photo Credit: Associated Press

Michigan’s men’s basketball team went on one of, if not the best, three day stretches in NCAA history. It began with a 40 point win over San Diego State on November 24th, followed by a 30 point win against #21 ranked Auburn on the 25th, and finally concluding on the 26th with another 40 point victory, this time against #5 Gonzaga. This dominant performance took place in the Players’ Era Festival in Las Vegas, a newer tournament forcing players and teams to compete for more than just bragging rights. The prize for the winning team was over $1 million in Name, Image, and Likeness funding.

The Players’ Era Festival was designed to become the largest tournament in college basketball outside of March Madness, and it has reached that goal. This year, 22 premier teams, including Iowa State, Tennessee, Alabama, and numerous other ranked and projected tournament teams. This was a particularly difficult task considering the tournament takes place during college’s “Feast Week,” where the NCAA schedules good teams against each other all day throughout the week in different tournaments. Some other tournaments include the Southwest Maui Invitational, which featured Texas and USC, and the Battle 4 Atlantis includes teams like Vanderbilt and South Florida. The Players’ Era Festival being able to claim top teams ultimately led to their success over these other tournaments.

The appeal to their tournament, however, was the record-high cash prize funneled to the winning school’s NIL budget and individual players. While Michigan itself won the $1 million prize, each team that participated made over $1 million as well off of marketing and promotions from ads and television sponsorships, according to Seth Berger, the tournament’s CEO. In a discussion with ESPN, Berger added that the Players’ Era Festival is looking to expand to 32 teams next season, which would be half as many as the March Madness tournament, making it a sort of pre-tournament preview for fans. With the Festival being profitable, and its upcoming expansion, fans can only wonder just how much the prize pool will be next season.