The First Annual Players Era Thanksgiving Festival Kicks Off Today at MGM Garden Arena

The inaugural Players Era Thanksgiving Festival begins today at the MGM Garden Arena in Las Vegas, featuring eight strong teams from various conferences.

The participating teams include Alabama and Texas A&M from the SEC, Oregon and Rutgers from the Big Ten, Houston from the Big 12, Creighton from the Big East, San Diego State from the Mountain West, and Notre Dame from the ACC.

The Players Era Festival is a first-of-its-kind tournament. In the era of NIL (Name, Image, and Likeness), the festival has committed $9 million in NIL guarantees, which will be split across the eight teams. Players will also have opportunities to grow their personal brands through financial education programs and various on-call NIL opportunities.

Each program will receive $1 million in NIL opportunities by participating in additional events separate from the tournament. The top four seeds at the end of the tournament on Saturday will receive additional NIL bonuses as follows:

The tournament is divided into two brackets: Impact and Power, each featuring four teams. Each program will play two games in pool play and will be seeded 1-4 after the first two days. Following a two-day break for Thanksgiving, each team will face the corresponding seed from the opposite bracket. To secure a spot in the top four, teams must finish as the first or second seed on their side of the bracket. Teams seeded third or fourth will play a consolation game on Saturday, with no additional NIL money awarded.

Notre Dame Tips Off Players Era Festival Week Against Rutgers and Houston

Notre Dame begins its Players Era Festival week tonight with a late game against Rutgers at 10:30 PM ET (7:30 PM local). On Wednesday, they face Houston in another late matchup, tipping off at 12:30 AM ET (9:30 PM local). Both games will be aired on TBS.

Depending on how the Irish perform, they will be seeded accordingly and will play Saturday against one of Creighton, Oregon, San Diego State, or Texas A&M. If Notre Dame finishes as a top 2 seed, the third-place game will air on TNT at 7:00 PM ET (4:00 PM local). The championship game will also be broadcast on TNT, scheduled for 9:30 PM ET (6:30 PM local).

If the Irish finish pool play as a 3rd or 4th seed, their games will take place earlier on Saturday, either at 1:00 PM ET (10:00 AM local) or 3:30 PM ET (12:30 PM local), and will be aired on TruTV.

Both Notre Dame and Rutgers enter the tournament with tough losses after starting the season 4-0. The Irish were defeated late last week by Elon at home, while Rutgers suffered an upset on the road against Kennesaw State.

Rutgers comes in as a slight favorite for tonight’s game. The line opened at -1.5 and has since moved to -2.5, meaning Vegas sees this as essentially a pick’em matchup. Notre Dame’s second opponent, Houston, is arguably the best team in the tournament. While tonight’s result will likely influence the line for Wednesday’s game, expect Houston to be a much heavier favorite.

Overall, this is a prime opportunity for Micah Shrewsberry’s squad to make a strong statement over the next two days.

All Week Coverage On Notre Dame On SI

I will be covering the team up close this week from Las Vegas. Stay locked in with Notre Dame Fighting Irish on SI as we bring you all the in-game updates and post-game reactions from Coach Shrewsberry and the players.