PAY or BE PAYED: Understanding the shifting landscape of early-season tournaments like The Maui Invitational

Let’s be honest, NC State basketball hasn’t been nationally relevant to start a season in years.

I say that to explain why most Wolfpack fans really haven’t been keeping tabs on the shifting landscape of these early-season (Thanksgiving week) tournaments that so many college teams play in.

The game has changed. College basketball wasn’t as monetized last time NC State was in the position they are in today, and thus neither were these pre-season tournaments.

We used to look at the Maui Invitational and ‘Battle 4 Atlantis’ as the elite Thanksgiving week tournaments. Usually littered with Top-10 teams, these haven’t looked the same.

A large reason was the introduction of tournaments like ‘The Players Era’ where teams compete for NIL funds.

In fact, multiple teams bowed out of Maui to be able to compete in ‘The Players Era.’

News: Baylor has pulled out of the 2025 Maui Invitational and will play in the Vegas-based Players Era Festival instead, tournament organizers told CBS Sports. Baylor’s not the only one: Iowa State is also now on board for ’25, organizers said.

— Matt Norlander (@MattNorlander) June 25, 2024

Will Wade actually commented on this and was quick to explain that this tournament was committed to well before he arrived (likely insinuating that this would not be the avenue his staff would take when booking a Thanksgiving week tournament).

See the quote here…

You guys are going to Maui. Obviously a lot of different options. Why did you guys specifically want to go to the Maui invitation?

WADE: “Well, it was signed way before I got here. But Maui, I mean, Maui’s the second-best tournament right now. If you look at Players Era, obviously they’ve got the best teams, but Maui has the second-most Top-50 teams right now. We’ve got four in Maui. We’ve got six Top-100 teams and four Top-50 teams.

I think Players Era’s got like 17 and 16. I mean, it’s gotten so big, but Maui’s the second best of all the rest of them that you mentioned.

Look, we still get what we’re looking for from a numeric standpoint out of it in terms of Top-100 and Top-50 competition on a neutral court, which is really what you’re looking for in these events. But yeah, this contract and our contract for next year, these things are signed five, six years in advance most of the time.

But look, we’re happy to be in it. It’s a great tournament. It’s a historic tournament. This is the second time I’ve been fortunate enough to take a team to it. It’s a cool place. It’ll be a good experience for our players. Ven’s (Lubin) been there back-to-back years. Tre’s (Holloman) been there back-to-back years. They both went with Carolina and Michigan State last year. It’s the new world we’re in.

——

Wade looked at the positives of the event, and there really are still a few positives. You get to go out to Hawaii with your team, have a few days of team building, and then you play against some really good teams. As he mentioned, based on rankings, this is the 2nd-best tournament out there.

But there are some negatives.

One of which is that you pay our way out there, while with ‘Player’s Era’, they are paying you. Sports Illustrated actually took a deep dive into this issue a few days ago.

Coaches have been weighing in as well…

It used to be that Maui was a recruiting tool. Come here and you get five days in the islands! Now, salaries are the recruiting tool, the money that was spent on the trip goes to those salaries and the players can pay for their own trip to Maui with their NIL check.

— Rob Dauster (@RobDauster) November 21, 2025

Despite all of that, NC State should be happy to be part of Maui this season. With their play over the last few years (setting aside the miracle Final Four run), they weren’t getting invited to the ‘Players Era’ in 2025. However, going forward, it will be worth watching how Wade and his staff navigate these multi-team events (especially during ‘Feast Week’).

My guess is for the Pack to try to get into a ‘Players Era’ type tournament with NIL benefits from here on out. In fact, it’s not clear if tournaments like the Maui and Battle 4 Atlantis will continue to exist as they have. For example, in February, ESPN pressed paused on their Diamond Head Classic tournament, citing the changing landscape.

While none of this actually matters for NC State this year, I wanted to point out this situation and give some context to Wade’s comments. Everything is moving so fast in college sports, it’s easy to miss a shift in something off the radar like ‘early season MTEs’.

All of that aside, NC State is down in Maui, having a great time…

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…fully focused on Monday’s opponent, Seton Hall.