How much money is on the line for Tennessee Basketball in the Players Era third-place game

LAS VEGAS — Tennessee Basketball will have $300,000 on the line in its game against Kansas in the third-place game at the Players Era Festival on Wednesday at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. The Vols will receive $200,000 in extra NIL funding with a fourth-place finish. 

No. 17 Tennessee (7-0), which beat No. 3 Houston 76-73 on Tuesday and Rutgers 85-60 on Monday, lost out on a spot in the title game by eight points. The Vols and Jayhawks on Wednesday will start at 7 p.m. Eastern Time on TNT and HBO Max.

Michigan and Gonzaga will play for an extra $1 million in NIL money in the championship game at 9:30 p.m. ET, while the runner up will get $500,000.

Tennessee one of five teams that are 2-0 at Players Era Festival

Tennessee finished with a plus-21 point differential after its two wins, but Michigan and Gonzaga will play for the championship after Michigan was plus-40 and Gonzaga was plus-30 after their two games.

“I want to be clear,” Players Era co-founder Seth Berger said Tuesday night, “that there is no money on the line in terms of playing and competition. That is not what the event is about. Each team qualifies for additional NIL compensation guarantees.

“… This year it hits $1 million dollars in guaranteed NIL compensation to the first-place team, $500,000, $300,000, and $200,000, second through fourth.”

Five teams in the event went 2-0: Michigan, Gonzaga, Tennessee, Kansas and Iowa State. Kansas was plus-21 and Iowa State was plus-19.

Players Era seeded teams 1-18 after first two rounds

The 18-team field was seeded 1-18 after Tuesday’s games based on overall record, point differential, points scored, points allowed and Associated Press Top 25 ranking. 

“We’ll obviously never disclose anything of any school’s contract because we’re a private company,” Berger said, “but on average what I will tell you is each school makes more than $1 million dollars in NIL competition guarantees for their kids.”

The money in the championship game and third-place game is bonus money, on top of what the other 14 teams in the event receive. 

Tennessee will be in Las Vegas each of the next two years playing in the Players Era Festival, which next season will move to 32 teams. 

The field will be broken down into four eight-team fields with the winner from each group advancing to the championship and third-place game. 

“I think at 32 teams we have the opportunity to create a major U.S. national sporting event,” Berger said. “Like March Madness is the best sporting event in the history of all mankind and always will be, but I think college basketball is such a great sport that it is strong enough to have a major national sporting event at the front end, and I think a 32-team Players Era Championship next November is exactly what it should be.”