South Carolina, Duke, UCLA and Texas will participate in the inaugural Players Era Women's Championship 2025, which will take place over three days during Thanksgiving week in Las Vegas.
The tournament will give the players and teams an opportunity to earn at least $1 million in NIL opportunities.
The event features a round-robin format that ensures all teams will face one another. Then, a champion will be crowned based on head-to-head record, with a series of tiebreakers including point differential, points scored and points allowed.
"We're excited to be among the first women's teams invited to play in the Players Era Women's Championship," South Carolina coach Dawn Staley said in a statement. "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."
All four teams featured in the 2025 event are currently ranked -- with the Bruins sitting in the No. 1 spot, the Gamecocks at No. 3, the Longhorns at No. 6 and the Blue Devils at No. 9.
"This will be the premier out of conference tournament with a national audience to boot. It is a great honor to be included in this elite event," UCLA coach Cori Close said in a statement.
Said Duke coach Kara Lawson: "The brands and the talent combined create an elite showcase of our sport. I have a lot of respect for these programs and their willingness to challenge each other."
The Players Era Championship debuted with men's basketball in 2024. Next year, the women's iteration will coincide with the men's tournament.
Earlier in December, Players Era announced it distributed $8 million to the NIL collectives of the eight teams that participated in 2024. ESPN reported that most of the NIL activities were for making content for the event sponsors.
"The opportunity Players Era will provide us within the NIL space is really unprecedented." Texas coach Vic Schaefer said.