What Does Alabama's Players Era Festival Schedule Look Like? Just a Minute

The Crimson Tide will face three teams in Las Vegas during Thanksgiving week.

Mar 30, 2024; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Nate Oats reacts in the first half against the Clemson Tigers in the finals of the West Regional of the 2024 NCAA Tournament at Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports / Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

Welcome to BamaCentral’s "Just a Minute," a video series featuring BamaCentral's Alabama beat writers. Multiple times a week, the writers will group up to provide their take on a topic concerning the Crimson Tide or the landscape of college sports.

Watch the above video as BamaCentral staff writer Hunter De Siver discusses Alabama men's basketball's opponents in the Players Era Festival.

On June 12, it was announced that the Alabama men's basketball team would be competing in the Players Era Festival in Las Vegas during Thanksgiving week this coming basketball season.

On Wednesday, every team's schedule for the showcase was unveiled per CBS Sports' Matt Norlander. The Crimson Tide will play in three games.

• Nov. 26: vs. Houston at 7 p.m. CT
• Nov. 27: vs. Rutgers at 9 p.m. CT
• Nov. 30: vs. Notre Dame at 12 p.m. CT

Each of these contests will be played in MGM Grand Garden Arena and will be broadcast on either TNT, TBS, truTV, or streaming on MAX.

The Players Era Festival is the first-ever NIL-based multi-team event for college basketball, which will take place in Las Vegas during Thanksgiving week this coming basketball season. When the event was announced, it was stated that teams who participate were slated to receive $1 million in NIL incentives.

However, there are currently ongoing issues with the Players Era Festival, as per Sportico on Aug. 21: "The NCAA reiterated that its bylaws make it 'impermissible' for athletes to receive NIL money in exchange for participating in a (multi-team event), even if that money is first routed through a collective. EverWonder (the studio running the event), which previously has said it’s been working with the NCAA, has sought to distinguish the money it is paying to collectives as being tied to athlete 'NIL opportunities' with 'sponsors outside of competition.'"

Nevertheless, the Crimson Tide is still set to compete against the three aforementioned.

The matchup against Houston will be among the Tide's toughest challenges of the entire season, as the Cougars were a top-seed in March's NCAA Tournament and finished at No. 3 in the final AP Poll.

Rutgers finished last season with a subpar 15-17 record, but this game could provide some excitement as Alabama transfer center Clifford Omoruyi played for the Scarlet Knights for the past four years.

Lastly, Notre Dame and the Crimson Tide have only ever faced off five times, but the Fighting Irish have a 3-2 series lead. A win for Alabama, who is expected to be a top-5 team in the first week of the college basketball season, would even the all-time series against a Notre Dame team, who went 13-20 last season.