The holiday season is here, but the blue collar boys of Alabama basketball are still clocking in for work.
Coach Nate Oats and the No. 7 Crimson Tide head to Las Vegas for Thanksgiving week to compete in the Players Era Festival , a first-of-its-kind tournament in which college hoops teams from around the country have the chance to compete for NIL payouts.
Learn more about what's in store for Alabama (4-1) at MGM Grand Garden Arena after getting back in the win column with a 100-87 dub against No. 20 Illinois in the C.M. Newton Classic last Wednesday.
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The Players Era Festival is committed to provide $9 million in NIL to the tournament winner for the year of 2024 alone. On its website, the tournament also states that student-athletes will receive more than $50 million in NIL over the next three years for their engagement in "activities separate and apart from competition." For these NIL payments, players will perform services and activities fully compliant with current NCAA regulations.
Although the Players Era Festival has drawn criticism from the NCAA, tournament directors maintain that "services and activities" performed by players are "fully compliant" with current NCAA regulations.
From Nov. 26 to Nov. 30, Alabama will compete amongst No. 8 Houston, No. 22 Texas A&M, No. 13 Creighton, Rutgers ( was No. 24, dropped out of Coaches Poll ), San Diego State, Oregon and Notre Dame.
Here's the schedule for the Crimson Tide:
November 26:vs. Houston (3-1), 7 p.m. CT
November 27:vs. Rutgers (4-1), 9 p.m. CT
November 30:Players Era Festival championship schedule
7th Place Game (Opponents TBD) − 12 p.m. CST
5th Place Game (Opponents TBD) − 2:30 p.m. CST
3rd Place Game (Opponents TBD) − 6 p.m. CST
Championship (Opponents TBD) − 8:30 p.m. CST
Games against Houston and Rutgers, the former college home of Alabama center Clifford Omoruyi , will be streamed on TBS. The Players Era Festival championship games are scheduled to air on TruTV.
Alabama originally had a game against Notre Dame scheduled for November 30 as its last appearance in the Players Era Festival. However, the tournament announced it reformatted the competition on October 22 because organizers realized that prior formatting wouldn't have allowed a winner at all, and therefore no one to claim to the millions at stake.
Now, games on Nov. 26 and Nov. 27 are group play with two divisions, Power and Impact. Alabama is in the Impact division alongside Houston, Notre Dame and Rutgers. The Power division is made up of Creighton, Oregon, San Diego State and Texas A&M.
On Nov. 30, teams compete in hopes of reaching the Players Era Festival championship. Three other games for seventh, fifth and third place will take place earlier that day.
After Wednesday's competition, groups will be ranked first through fourth and Saturday qualifiers will be determined. Head-to-head records have the most influence on seeding. Then, it's determined by total point differential (capped at 20 points per game), followed by total points scored and fewest points allowed.
The top seeds of each division will meet in the championship as remaining teams fill in the third-, fifth- and seventh-place games accordingly, so should Alabama reach the final, it will face whoever's ranked first out of Creighton, Oregon, San Diego State and Texas A&M, which include two top 25 opponents.
Emilee Smarr covers Alabama basketball and Crimson Tide athletics for the Tuscaloosa News. She can be reached via email at esmarr@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: What to know for Alabama basketball in 2024 Players Era Festival
