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Subject: In Season Tournament Paying College Players NIL Money Author: An Observer [ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ] Date Posted: 11:52:03 11/25/25 Tue The Players Era college basketball in-season tournament is taking place now at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Participating schools include Houston, Michigan, Kansas, Notre Dame, Alabama, Gonzaga, St John's, Iowa State, Auburn and Oregon. The twist here is that the tournament sponsors, a private equity firm and a media company based in Abu Dhabi, are paying the players on each team $1 million. Kelvin Sampson, a man whose phone number is on speed dial at the NCAA compliance department, summed up why his Houston team is there: "They're giving up $ million. That's why we're there and I would say that's why all the teams are there. . . . If they decided to put a court down at some vacant lot and they'd give us $1 million, I'd go play there, too." If you're trying to decide whether the Ivy League should devote itself fully to succeeding in men's basketball, this is another piece of evidence that men's college basketball and FBS football is no longer on a slippery slope. Now, those sports are on an irreversible path to Cesspoolville. [ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Replies:

[> Subject: Re: In Season Tournament Paying College Players NIL Money Author: sparman [ Edit | View ] Date Posted: 16:46:01 11/25/25 Tue The Athletic (NYT) had an article about this today: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6834614/2025/11/25/college-basketball-players-era-tournament/?source=athletic_pulsenewsletter&campaign=15756493&userId=11715779 Summary: "But today, Maui and other long-established multi-team events like the Battle 4 Atlantis are facing an existential threat. This week’s Players Era Festival in Las Vegas pays players directly — at least $1 million combined per team in name, image and likeness deals. The tournament doesn’t disclose how player payouts are determined, but they will go through NIL Go, the compliance clearinghouse launched by the College Sports Commission and managed by the accounting firm Deloitte. In just its second season, the tournament has made schools question the alternative of spending hundreds of thousands on Thanksgiving week trips to faraway islands, especially in an era dominated by dollars and sense. “These kids are like professional athletes,” said Lea Miller-Tooley, the CEO of Complete Sports Management and a longtime event organizer who also founded Battle 4 Atlantis in 2011. “They don’t care about swimming with dolphins. They wanna get paid.”

[> Subject: Re: In Season Tournament Paying College Players NIL Money Author: Richard (Kent) [ Edit | View ] Date Posted: 18:52:38 11/25/25 Tue Guys- You can't possibly be serious. Every Ivy team would participate, if invited. I know one coach who tried his best to get through to Seth Berger to get the invite when it was announced it 2024. It was felt that the Ivy teams did not have the sufficient tv cache. When the women's field expands to 8 and then 16, there most likely be an Ivy. You do know about the Penn collective and the other Ivies who pay, right?

[> [> Subject: Re: In Season Tournament Paying College Players NIL Money Author: sparman [ Edit | View ] Date Posted: 08:52:54 11/26/25 Wed It's a NYT article describing what is happening to existing historical tournaments, not an editorial or advocacy piece.

[> [> Subject: Spearmint Rhino, Anybody? Author: An Observer [ Edit | View ] Date Posted: 10:41:21 11/26/25 Wed Hi, Richard. I was speaking about the broad point that collegiate sports and amateur sports in general is at a dangerous inflection point. Uh, I mean, has passed a dangerous inflection point, going down the wrong branch of the decision tree. I wasn't making the specific point that an invited Ivy team should not participate in an in-season tournament which pays the players $1 million. Though it is an interesting thought experiment, right? Suppose the teams most likely to be invited based upon recent history, Yale and Princeton, did not get the nod until a few weeks ago. Maybe they're filling the spot of another team which had to withdraw. How about a scenario in which James Jones or Mitch Henderson calls a team huddle after a practice in late October, "Guys, we're going to Las Vegas the week of Thanksgiving. The good news is that what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. Also, regardless of how skilled you are at blackjack or poker, you're going to start off our trip with an extra $70,000 per man. Happy Halloween!" I mean, seriously, is this good for Yale University or Princeton University?

[> [> [> Subject: Re: Spearmint Rhino, Anybody? Author: sparman [ Edit | View ] Date Posted: 12:02:47 11/26/25 Wed Probably not, but don't you think it would be good for coach and player agents?

[> [> [> [> Subject: Re: Spearmint Rhino, Anybody? Author: Richard (Kent) [ Edit | View ] Date Posted: 13:06:53 11/27/25 Thu I did a Pod with Mason Shipp of Yale which will air soon. It expalins a lot on topic. Happy Thanksgiving to all!

[> [> [> Subject: Re: Spearmint Rhino, Anybody? Author: The Hangover [ Edit | View ] Date Posted: 21:29:16 11/26/25 Wed Why you ole hound dog with the Spearmint Rhino reference. AO I am sure your have waved many a $20 there and experienced the pleasures of the champagne room. Well played my good man.

[> [> Subject: Re: In Season Tournament Paying College Players NIL Money Author: Tiger69 [ Edit | View ] Date Posted: 11:18:26 11/29/25 Sat “These kids are like professional athletes”. Says it all. At the highest level this is what college football and basketball have become; trade schools for aspiring professional athletes. It is now up to the individual universities to decide if this is the course they wish to follow. This role is inconsistent with the Ivies’ mission which is to provide a top education in which athletics are a legitimate extracurricular rather than a training ground for a professional career. Perhaps this means D-3 for the $ sports. If so, fine with me. I shall still enjoy defeating our rivals who share our view of the role of athletics.

[> Subject: Battle4Atlantis Author: Go Green [ Edit | View ] Date Posted: 09:59:27 11/26/25 Wed I can only assume that the Princeton WBB had fun swimming with the dolphins this past weekend. They also won their games (Penn State, UMES)

[> [> Subject: The Evolution of In-Season Tournaments Author: An Observer [ Edit | View ] Date Posted: 15:43:31 11/26/25 Wed I believe that, in the evolutionary timeline from Neanderthals and Denisovans into Homo Sapiens, this is the progression of the in-season tournament species: (1) We're not going to pay you anything and we're going to make you fly somewhere really inconvenient, cold and miserable, but you'll do it because these games don't count against your NCAA season limit. (Alaska tournaments) (2) We're not going to pay you anything. We're going to let you fly somewhere really inconvenient, but warm and sunny. You'll barely have time to dip your toe into the hotel pool, let alone the beach, but you'll do it because these games don't count against your NCAA season limit. (Maui tournaments) (3) We're not going to pay you anything. We're going to let you fly somewhere reasonably convenient, warm and sunny. Maybe because you won't spend eight hours on a plane getting here, you might have time to dip your toe into the ocean. (Bahamas and Virgin Islands tournaments) (4) We're not going to pay you anything. But we're going to let you fly somewhere warm and sunny, plus what happens at the Spearmint Rhino stays at the Spearmint Rhino. (first generation Las Vegas tournaments) (5) Not only is Las Vegas warm and sunny, your trip to the Rhino will be funded by the $1 million dollars we're giving you. As Lorne Michaels said when inviting the Beatles to appear on the first 1975 season of Saturday Night Live, "I'm offering you one millllion dollars. You can split it evenly, or give Ringo less. I don't care." (Players Era tournament at the MGM Grand) Coming soon. . . (6) In-season tournaments will have to bid on teams to show up. The CBOE will set up a central clearing house where brokers will engage in open outcry on which teams are sent to which tournaments. And eventually. . . (7) All non-conference games will be scheduled using a bid and offer system between vistors and hosts. Why should Yale play Green Bay or Vermont when other teams and their private equity sponsors are willing to pay more? (8) Come to think of it, traveling to Ithaca or Hanover in the middle of February doesn't sound so great, either. Ivy League players will ask, "You want me to get on the bus in the middle of winter. What's in it for me financially?"

[> [> [> Subject: Re: The Evolution of In-Season Tournaments Author: observer [ Edit | View ] Date Posted: 09:24:39 11/27/25 Thu Who's being naive, Kay? This has always happened. Even in the Ivy League. Ever heard of Lou Long? George Owen? Pudge Heffelfinger? The funny thing is that the Ivies put in the "rules" to eliminate these types of things, yet each school celebrates the "National Championships" and undefeated seasons that were gained under the same types of shenanigans that people on this board excoriate as immoral. The Ivies don't care about winning titles in football and basketball anymore, because they don't need the publicity that comes with New Year's Day games and March Madness to drive applications. But if current trends continue... https://nypost.com/2025/11/24/lifestyle/high-schoolers-are-swapping-the-ivy-league-for-the-sec-thanks-to-sunshine-campus-culture/ We might see lots more NIL in the Ivy future.

[> [> [> Subject: Dartmouth played in one of those Alaska tournaments... Author: Go Green [ Edit | View ] Date Posted: 15:28:33 11/27/25 Thu We did win a game! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Great_Alaska_Shootout

[> Subject: Re: In Season Tournament Paying College Players NIL Money Author: Eli1143770312 [ Edit | View ] Date Posted: 17:41:21 11/27/25 Thu Observer: that New York Post article is laughable. First, it’s a story whose source is someone else’s article from the Sunday Times of London. Primary sources anyone? And neither article cites any data to support the assertion that Northern students going South are students who otherwise would have been headed for the Ivy League. Given the record number of applicants to the Ivies and record low acceptance rates and continued high yields, I’m not aware of anything behind the assertion. There are arguments for NILs but plenty of reasons to continue with an amateur alternative.