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Syracuse men’s basketball will compete in a $1 million tournament in Las Vegas that will pay players in 2025, Syracuse.com confirmed on Friday. Inside The Loud House reported that SU was finalizing a deal to play in the tournament Wednesday while CBS Sports first mentioned the Orange were engaged in discussions about potentially playing in 2025 Tuesday.

The event is called the “Players Era Festival” and the inaugural tournament is over this coming Thanksgiving week. The 2024 tournament is expected to have eight teams participate before doubling to 16 teams in 2025. The event includes $1 million payouts for each school to fund its NIL initiatives, Jason Belzer, the founder of Student Athlete NIL, told syracuse.com. Belzer said the $1 million will be deposited into Orange United, SU’s preferred NIL collective.

SANIL’s mission— which oversees Orange United — is to “ensure college athletic programs are able to achieve long-term success by providing unique and sustainable NIL opportunities to their student-athletes in partnership with fans and brands.”

In addition to the $1 million going toward each university’s NIL collective, Sports Business Journal reports that participating players will have future earnings opportunities through long-term NIL contracts. Additionally, SBJ notes that the tournament’s organizers are in the “final negotiating stages” to host games at T-Mobile Arena, MGM Grand Garden Arena and Michelob ULTRA Arena.

Syracuse is slated to participate in the 2024 Legends Classic at the Barclays Center on Nov. 21-22 before traveling to Las Vegas during the same week in 2025.