Iowa State Cyclones Will Benefit Greatly From Big 12, Players Era NIL Deal

The NIL deal between the Big 12 and Players Era will have a massive impact on the Iowa State Cyclones.

Jeff Hanisch-Imagn Images

The Iowa State Cyclones are partaking in the Players Era Festival this year. This is a rapidly expanding tournament that featured eight teams last year and has already doubled to a 16-team field this year.

That expansion is going to continue, with 32 teams expected to be partaking in 2026. And the Cyclones could become an annual staple in the Las Vegas tournament.

As shared by Myron Medcalf of ESPN, the Big 12 and Players Era signed a $50 million deal that includes NIL payments for the basketball teams. The equity partnership guarantees that the conference will have eight automatic qualifiers into future Players Era Festival tournaments, and every team that participates will be guaranteed, at a minimum, $1 million in NIL money.

Guaranteeing that eight teams from one of the most prominent men’s basketball conferences in the league is great business for Players Era. If they want their tournament to stick around, featuring the best teams in the country is a smart way to go about it.

Iowa State will benefit greatly from Big 12, Players Era deal

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This year, four Big 12 programs are participating in the tournament, which features nine teams ranked in the top 25. Along with No. 16 Iowa State, the No. 2 Houston Cougars, No. 24 Kansas Jayhawks and Baylor Bears will be playing.

Beginning next season, the representatives from the conference will be determined by the previous season’s conference standings. Had the eight-team agreement been in place previously, the aforementioned four schools would have been joined by the Arizona Wildcats, BYU Cougars, Texas Tech Red Raiders and West Virginia Mountaineers.

"The Big 12 Conference is thrilled to grow its partnership with Players Era," Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark said through the event's release, via ESPN. "The tournament is a tremendous platform to showcase our conference, student-athletes and coaches as the best in college basketball, and we look forward to continuing to make Players Era a national marquee event."

Players Era, an EverWonder Studio company, and the Big 12 Conference today announced a first-of-its-kind partnership that will grant the Big 12 an equity stake in the marquee Players Era Men’s Championship tournament. pic.twitter.com/vfKFr5EgkX

— Big 12 Conference (@Big12Conference) November 24, 2025

This is a big deal for the Cyclones. Performing well during the Big 12 schedule will now put them in a position to earn some NIL money, an area in which they are lagging behind compared to some of their peers.

Iowa State just doesn’t have the financial power of some of the bigger programs in the conference, but this will provide them a chance to even the playing field a little bit. Under T.J. Otzelberger, they have turned into one of the most consistent men’s basketball teams in the country and should be a yearly staple in the Players Era Festival.

This year, the Cyclones will be taking on the St. John’s Red Storm in one of the best non-conference matchups of the year. The Creighton Bluejays are their second opponent, and a third game awaits should they perform well enough.