Tennessee basketball will play in the Players Era Festival for the next three seasons, a source with direct knowledge of the situation told Knox News on Tuesday.
The source spoke on the condition of anonymity because an announcement has not been made.
The Players Era Festival is a week-long tournament in Las Vegas with NIL opportunities.
Tennessee has won a pair of holiday tournaments under Barnes.
The Vols won the Battle 4 Atlantis in 2022, its season appearance in the Bahamas tournament in Barnes’ tenure. UT beat Kansas to win the title in 2022. It finished third in the 2017 tournament.
They won the Baha Mar Championship in 2024 by beating Virginia and Baylor.
Tennessee played in the Maui Invitational in 2023 and 2016. It played fourth in 2023 and seventh in 2017.
Tennessee played in the Hall of Fame Tip-Off tournament at Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Connecticut, in November 2021. It lost to Villanova and beat North Carolina. The Vols were slated to be in the Charleston Classic in 2020, but the tournament was dropped due to the COVID-19 pandemic. They played in the Emerald Coast Classic in Niceville, Florida, in the 2019 season.
The Vols twice played in New York during Barnes’ tenure in holiday tournaments. They played in the Barclays Classic in Barnes’ first season in 2015 and were in the NIT Season Tip-Off in 2018.
Mike Wilson covers University of Tennessee athletics. Email him at michael.wilson@knoxnews.com and follow him on X @ByMikeWilson or Bluesky @bymikewilson.bsky.social. If you enjoy Mike’s coverage, consider a digital subscription that will allow you access to all of it.
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Tennessee to play in Players Era Festival for next three seasons
