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Future of MTEs

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Great piece in the Athletic today regarding the future of MTEs with the Players Era now being, or trying to be, the new big dog for feast week. I have highlighted certain parts of the article below so you aren't just taking my word for it. This reinforces what a lot of us have talked about since Maui last year. I know Hurley doesn't want to go back based on how they played, but it's also a huge financial loss for the athletic department.

It makes more sense for $$$ reasons for UConn to schedule home and homes, and big payout neutral site games than play in Maui or Battle 4 Atlantis, and lose money. Matt Nolander said on his podcast yesterday that Battle 4 Atlantis has ZERO teams scheduled for next year's event. ZERO. Look at Maui this year where the biggest names were NC State and Texas (who both lost in the first round BTW). Those tournaments are going to have to change their business models fast.

I also think from a competitive standpoint, it helps not to play 3 games in 3 days. Allow our staff the chance to scout ahead of time. With games in Boston and New York this year, I believe we are guaranteed of making north of 1.5 million. Add in the home games with Arizona and Texas, and that jumps significantly higher. Next year, we are already scheduled to play in Chicago (return game with Illinois) with a payout in the neighborhood of over 600k. Add in a Kansas home game, another home game against a P5, and add a game in NYC and Boston, and we are in business. Plus we can schedule teams after the portal so we know we are getting a good opponent. Highlights from the article:

But today, Maui and other long-established multi-team events like the Battle 4 Atlantis are facing an existential threat. This week’s Players Era Festival in Las Vegas pays players directly — at least $1 million combined per team in name, image and likeness deals. The tournament doesn’t disclose how player payouts are determined, but they will go through NIL Go, the compliance clearinghouse launched by the College Sports Commission and managed by the accounting firm Deloitte.



Mod edit: Don't cut and paste copyrighted material. 10% or one paragraph, whichever is less.
 
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Therein lies another hidden detriment, according to multiple high-major staffers and coaches, of going to an event like Maui or Atlantis. Not only are teams spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to go play these games, but in doing so, there’s also the opportunity cost of not playing home games or lucrative neutral-site deals. Hypothetically, say a school pays $500,000 to go to the Maui Invitational for a week. That isn’t its only cost; it’s also the additional $1 million it could’ve earned by playing two home games, or the additional $1.5 million it could’ve earned by playing a standalone neutral site.

Boston and New York are bus trips with single night stays versus an MTE with air charter and multiple nights for a large traveling party. So they are probably saving more than $500,000.

It also solidifies our position as the standard bearer for the northeast and enhances our media footprint in the #1 and #5 media markets in the country. Hurley was definitely ahead of the curve on this one.
 
The Battle for Atlantis field is the weakest I've ever seen, not one major player there

It looks as if Maui is having the same problems
 
The more OOC games at MSG the better. Can also do Boston but mainly just to rub it in BCs face.

How’s next years OOC schedule shaping up? We have a home game against KU in CT. Away at Zona. Illinois in Chicago.

The UT H&H series will be over and The BYU and UF games are one offs so we don’t need to go to either place so there’s still room for at least 3 big OOCs.

The one offs are key so we can have them in MSG/Boston every year without having to go somewhere else like Chicago for a rematch
 
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Matt Norlander had a very (and I mean very) long article on this subject yesterday. Said the Players Era event is changing the landscape.

But last December, despite an army of skeptics who tried to warn the coaches that something would go wrong, all eight teams were paid on time and in full as promised. Every school and coach from 2024 is back in Vegas this year, with some having recently agreed to long-term extensions to stay on with Players Era through the end of the decade.....

It's also conspicuous that most blue bloods (Duke, Carolina, Kentucky, UConn, UCLA) haven't committed to this point, though Berger and Orefice have certainly been diligent in their recruiting efforts there.


 
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The Battle for Atlantis field is the weakest I've ever seen, not one major player there

It looks as if Maui is having the same problems
The barrier to entry to both of those tourneys is high ... hotel room $ are through the roof, and Atlantis is like a compound where you're either staying there, or on the outside

as for Maui, what you're seeing is normal - it's only 11:45am!
 
The Battle for Atlantis field is the weakest I've ever seen, not one major player there

It looks as if Maui is having the same problems

I was shocked when I saw the lineup. But then I saw who was playing at the Baha Mar tournament, and it seems they outbid Atlantis.
 
Sounds like these will be good for the schools without large NIL budgets, like Seton Hall, and good for their recruiting as players get paid by tournament
 
I love all the neutral site games and our competition. Because of our proximity to NYC and Boston and our drawing power, I expect these games to be offered to us every year

Butt damn, it sure is getting expensive

Tickets, dinner, hotel room, parking........ WTF
 
I think that scheduling your own home and homes and neutral site games works better. You get to pick who you want to play. If you are a team with national aspirations, playing an MTE and you lose your first round game you never know what level of competition you are getting from the next games. Maui last year was a great example. They lose to Memphis, which by itself is not a terrible loss, but then get stuck playing Dayton and Colorado and somehow lose those games also. It just tanks your resume.
 
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I find it hard to understand how the money will keep coming for these events. No idea how ticket sales were but I saw lots of empty seats at the games I watched and quality teams were playing.
 
I find it hard to understand how the money will keep coming for these events. No idea how ticket sales were but I saw lots of empty seats at the games I watched and quality teams were playing.

Maui. Bahamas.

Notice there is no more Great Alaskan Shootout.
 
I find it hard to understand how the money will keep coming for these events. No idea how ticket sales were but I saw lots of empty seats at the games I watched and quality teams were playing.
Through alumni & community outreach, donors, boosters, merchandising, sponsorship and/or licensing
 
What I like about MTEs is the atmosphere that gets created - multiple teams' fans, all friendly and optimistic (after all, it's only November), and folks seem to go home with a better understanding and greater respect for each other.

As a donor, I don't mind my money going to students, equipment managers, cheerleaders, players and staff that may have never been to Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Bahamas, etc. to have some fun - and will carry the flag for all of us ... that's a loss-leader for me

After all, this originally was supposed to be about education, no?

Go Huskies!
 
The Players Era is the college basketball equivalent of that cool, pretty, but unassuming girl you knew in high school twenty years ago, but you see her randomly at a bar over Thanksgiving Break and she's got way too much work done, is now floating behind a beta-blocker haze and is married to a venture capitalist who drives a Ford Bronco.
 
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The Players Era is the college basketball equivalent of that cool, pretty, but unassuming girl you knew in high school twenty years ago, but you see her randomly at a bar over Thanksgiving Break and she's got way too much work done, is now floating behind a beta-blocker haze and is married to a venture capitalist who drives a Ford Bronco.
A new Ford Bronco.
 
Matt Norlander had a very (and I mean very) long article on this subject yesterday. Said the Players Era event is changing the landscape.

But last December, despite an army of skeptics who tried to warn the coaches that something would go wrong, all eight teams were paid on time and in full as promised. Every school and coach from 2024 is back in Vegas this year, with some having recently agreed to long-term extensions to stay on with Players Era through the end of the decade.....

It's also conspicuous that most blue bloods (Duke, Carolina, Kentucky, UConn, UCLA) haven't committed to this point, though Berger and Orefice have certainly been diligent in their recruiting efforts there.


I would have thought that him mentioning us as a blue blood would have completely derailed this thread but I guess people here don’t get as excited as much when we ARE referred to as they get pissed off when we AREN’T
 
Can't imagine it helps to attract high level teams when your TV partners schedule games at ridiculous times too like the Maui championship game being at 9:30 am Hawaiian time today so ESPN can show 3 meaningless NBA games this afternoon instead...
 
Can't imagine it helps to attract high level teams when your TV partners schedule games at ridiculous times too like the Maui championship game being at 9:30 am Hawaiian time today so ESPN can show 3 meaningless NBA games this afternoon instead...
These days the Maui games are on earlier - allows everyone to still have a full day, not have to negotiate a 8pm hotel check out time, and/or stress over making their redeye flights home for Thanksgiving; in years past the end of the final game, put a lot of people's flights in jeopardy
 
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The big boys of MCB can use the neutral site games to their financial advantage. Maui will go the route of the Great Alaskan shootout. Playing single games in all parts of the country will only help the big brands of MCB. Mini Tourneys playing 2 games in 3 days may have a future, IT is all about the CASH
 
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