Players Era tournament expansion serves only 1 group
The Players Era tournament is growing, but its expansion only serves a select few college basketball teams.
It seems like everything in college basketball is expanding. The NCAA tournament is expanding to 76 teams starting next spring, and the Players Era tournament will also be getting bigger. Last year's edition of the Players Era tournament featured 18 teams, while the 2026 version of the tournament will have 24 teams.
The expanded field will feature two sets of games in back-to-back weeks that will exclusively be aired by ESPN. The Players Era expansion does nothing to dispel the concern that many coaches and fans have about the expanded NCAA tournament field; it will only help schools in power conferences. Excited for a new chapter of Players Era Men’s Championship 🤝 @espn 📍 24 Teams.
2 Tournaments. 📍 Bracket Play 📍 ESPN as Exclusive Broadcast Partner https://t. co/tVKnZBIgvU pic.
twitter. com/JTA9uYACHA — Players Era (@Players_Era) May 7, 2026 Out of the 24 schools slated to participate in next year's Players Era tournament, only three programs can be considered to come from mid-major conferences. Gonzaga is one of those three, but can hardly be considered a Cinderella at this point, which narrows it down to two: San Diego State (who will be part of the reworked Pac-12 come this summer), and UNLV out of the Mountain West.