What could go wrong?

[yoda]

A big time Las Vegas college basketball event that pays mega-gambling money - disguised as NIL money directly to players - planned for November 2026.

Surely this is gonna be good for the sport, right?

Players Era’s 32-Team Championship Ambitions Face Reality Check

The NIL-paying men's college basketball event is now considering a reduced field size for its Thanksgiving 2026 edition.

www.sportico.com

 

[Da Coach]

A big time Las Vegas college basketball event that pays mega-gambling money - disguised as NIL money directly to players - planned for November 2026.

Surely this is gonna be good for the sport, right?

Players Era’s 32-Team Championship Ambitions Face Reality Check

The NIL-paying men's college basketball event is now considering a reduced field size for its Thanksgiving 2026 edition.

www.sportico.com

Another Las Vegas based tournament, the College Basketball Crown tournament has had to scale back this year. Last year, the inaugural year for the CBC, they had 16 teams from power conferences compete, and there was even talk of expanding the field for 2026. However, this year's tournament features only 8 teams. The sponsors, Anschutz Entertainment Group and Fox Sports, claimed they were simply "streamlining" the tournament.
I suspect the reason for cutting back is that some teams turned down offers to participate. And the other reason is that any team in a Power Conference with close to a winning record was given at-large bids to the NCAA Tournament, so there simply weren't enough teams worth inviting.
The 8 teams this year are- Oklahoma, Colorado, Stanford, West Virginia, Baylor, Minnesota, Rutgers, and Creighton.

College Basketball Crown

Introducing a New Postseason Reign in College Basketball, Las Vegas, April 2026

collegebasketballcrown.com

College Basketball Crown - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org