South Carolina, Duke Among Teams to Compete in 2025 Players Era Women's Championship

The Players Era Festival will expand to include a women's basketball event starting with the 2025-26 season.

South Carolina announced it will be one of four schools taking part along with Duke, Texas and UCLA.

"We're excited to be among the first women's teams invited to play in the Players Era Women's Championship," Gamecocks head coach Dawn Staley said. "This innovative event brings together everything we're looking for—quality games early in the season, a great location for fans to come and enjoy, and NIL opportunities for our players."

South Carolina, Duke, Texas and UCLA will compete in a round-robin format to ensure the four teams all cross paths once during Thanksgiving week in Las Vegas. It promises to be one of the biggest nonconference events on the 2024-25 schedule.

The Bruins retained their standing atop the Associated Press Top 25 poll in Monday's new rankings. The Gamecocks (No. 2), Longhorns (No. 6) and Blue Devils (No. 9) all have a spot in the Top 10 as well.

"This will be the premier out of conference tournament with a national audience to boot," UCLA head coach Cori Close said, per ESPN's Kendra Andrews. "It is a great honor to be included in this elite event."

The players themselves stand to benefit significantly as well. Players Era CEO Seth Berger said this month the organization distributed $8 million in NIL money as part of this year's men's tournament.