Texas Longhorns Part of Inaugural Women's Tournament in Players Era Festival

Texas Women's basketball will be heading to Las Vegas in 2025, selected as one of four teams to play in the Players Era Festival.

Alongside Duke, UCLA and South Carolina, the Texas Longhorns will be spending its Thanksgiving weekend in Las Vegas, according to Texas Women's basketball.

What is the Players Era Festival

The Players Era Festival is a tournament hosted in Las Vegas, meant to be a "week-long celebration of college basketball," according to the Players Era website.

The tournament was hosted for the first time last season, just before conference play, for eight men's college basketball teams. Each team would take home a guaranteed one million dollars for participating, and the winner of the tournament would receive an extra one million dollar prize, according to CBS Sports. Also, according to CBS Sports, this year's format is similar, in that every team is guaranteed a one-million-dollar payout, but the tournament has been expanded to 18 men's teams and four women's teams.

Texas, UCLA and South Carolina were all top seeds in March Madness last season and also made appearances in the Final Four. Duke will accompany the three powerhouses, having made it to the elite eight, before losing to South Carolina 54-50.

Texas will look for a possible Final Four rematch against South Carolina before the start of conference play, if they can make it past UCLA in the opening game. If the Longhorns can topple the Bruins, they will face either South Carolina or Duke in the final game for the additional one million. The Longhorns fell to the Gamecocks in March Madness, 74-57.

Last season, the Oregon men's basketball team was the inaugural champions of the Players Era tournament, earning the program two million dollars. Last season, the eight participating teams were divided into two pools, with each team playing two games each. Alabama and Oregon were at the top of their pools and played for the additional prize money in the championship game, where the Ducks came out on top 83-81. With only four women's teams, their games will differ, taking on a Final Four format instead.

According to ESPN, this season's Players Era Festival will yield more than $20 million in payouts among the participating 22 teams. Whether the Longhorns win the tournament or not, they are still guaranteed a significant payday.

Texas Women's basketball will have star forward Madison Booker at the helm with the help of returning guard Rori Harmon to try to earn Texas a few big wins before the start of conference play, and a significant monetary prize. The games are slated to take place on November 26th and 27th next season.