Players Era Festival 2026

[ar inj]

I think it may be two 16-team brackets.

Everybody gets 3 games in Vegas and the two bracket winners meet the following week for their 4th game probably also in Vegas.

Everyone else only gets 3 games.

Maybe the the bracket runner-ups also get a 4th game so the second week only has a single doubleheader.

 

[llandz]

That's a scheduling nightmare for a bracket winner from the east coast. Can't really schedule another west coast game to cut down on travel. Have to fly back east and then back out to Vegas most likely.
I guess it is like that March thing that we used to go to.

 

[ar inj]

That's a scheduling nightmare for a bracket winner from the east coast. Can't really schedule another west coast game to cut down on travel. Have to fly back east and then back out to Vegas most likely.
I guess it is like that March thing that we used to go to.

Agree, but that is what they were talking about back in December. Plans could have totally changed.

 

[Consigliere]

I think it may be two 16-team brackets.

Everybody gets 3 games in Vegas and the two bracket winners meet the following week for their 4th game probably also in Vegas.

Everyone else only gets 3 games.

Maybe the the bracket runner-ups also get a 4th game so the second week only has a single doubleheader.

Except it takes four games to get to two 16 team bracket winners.

I believe they petitioned the ncaa to allow more than 3 games to be counted as a single multi team event. Otherwise teams playing fourth or fifth games would exceed the 31 game limit. That petition was denied. Last I heard was they we’re considering 4 8 team mini tournaments with no idea how to crown an overall winner

 

[ar inj]

Except it takes four games to get to two 16 team bracket winners.

I believe they petitioned the ncaa to allow more than 3 games to be counted as a single multi team event. Otherwise teams playing fourth or fifth games would exceed the 31 game limit. That petition was denied. Last I heard was they we’re considering 4 8 team mini tournaments with no idea how to crown an overall winner

You are right. It would take 4 games to have a 16 team bracket winner. Four 8 team brackets gets you 4 winners, but then what happens? Neither the interwebs nor AI not know the answer.

 

[Consigliere]

You are right. It would take 4 games to have a 16 team bracket winner. Four 8 team brackets gets you 4 winners, but then what happens? Neither the interwebs nor AI not know the answer.

Don’t think it has been determined, or announced at least. Since there is additional NIL money awarded to the tournament champion I can think of four possibilities.

1. All involved teams commit to five games over two weeks. Three the first and two the second where four bracket winners meet for championship round. Could also have four second place teams, four third place teams, etc. meet. If all teams are not involved and the 31 game limit intact involving only the top 4 means the others would not be able to schedule all 31. With an 18 game conference schedule and a road game in the SEC challenge, that leaves just eight OOC games for a team like Cuse to play. Certainly a possibility but with the Vegas teams all being high level opponents and travel expenses essentially doubling it could be a tough sell for East Coast teams.

2. Divide the extra prize money among the four bracket winners. Essentially this means holding four separate multi team events in Vegas concurrently. Similar to the Phil Knight two tourney extravaganza in Portland a couple years ago. Either evenly split or based on some performance measure such as:

3. Keep the point differential ranking as a means to crown an overall champion. Obviously flawed due to the variance in strength of opponents but the tournament organizer was quoted as saying he liked the effects of point differential and would like to see it maintained.

I expect either the second or third option as programs are working on their out of conference schedules now and need to know how many games to book outside of Vegas.