Alabama’s First Opponent in Las Vegas MTE Revealed

The Crimson Tide will join seven other teams in unprecedented territory when they travel to Las Vegas to participate in the Players Era Festival Multi-team Event for the 2024-2025 men's basketball season. Each team participating will receive $1 million in NIL just for participating, while the winner of the Festival will get an additional $1 million in NIL for winning.

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Alabama won't have an easy path, with the Crimson Tide's first game set to take place against the Houston Cougars, who were a No. 1 seed in last season's NCAA Tournament. It was first reported by Jay Bilas of ESPN.

Nate Oats is currently 2-0 against Houston head coach Kelvin Sampson.

Per Matt Norlander of CBS Sports, the Festival will be formally announced today, but they are still deciding between two four-team pods or an eight-team model.

If the Festival does opt into two four-team pods, which is the current expectation, Alabama's opponents will be Houston, Rutgers, and Notre Dame. It would set up a meeting between new Alabama big man Clifford Omoruyi and his former team, Rutgers.

Alabama's known non-conference schedule currently looks like this, courtesy of Blake Byler at BamaCentral.

11/11 - vs McNeese
11/15 - @ Purdue
11/20 - vs Illinois (Birmingham)
11/26 - vs Houston ( Las Vegas)
11/27 - TBA Players Era (Las Vegas)
11/29 - TBA Players Era (Las Vegas)
12/14 - vs Creighton
12/18 - @ North Dakota
12/22 - vs Kent State

Wyatt Fulton is the Tide 100.9 DME and Brand Manager, covering Alabama Crimson Tide football and men's basketball. For more Crimson Tide coverage, follow Wyatt on X (Formerly known as Twitter) at @FultonW_.