Report: Baylor pulls out of 2025 Maui Invitational, to play in Players Era Festival

According to Matt Norlander of CBS Sports, Baylor has pulled out of the 2025 Maui Invitational. Instead, the Bears will play in the Players Era Festival in Las Vegas, a tournament that is NIL-driven for the participating players.

Baylor is not the only addition to the 2025 Players Era Festival, either. Fellow Big 12 member Iowa State is joining the field too according to Norlander. Although, they were not scheduled to be in Hawaii for college basketball’s most popular midseason tournament.

“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,” Norlander said via X. “Baylor’s not the only one: Iowa State is also now on board for ’25, organizers said.”

Twelve other programs are scheduled to participate in the 2025 Players Era Festival — Alabama, Creighton, Houston, Gonzaga, Michigan, Notre Dame, Rutgers, San Diego State, Saint Joe’s, St. John’s, Syracuse, and Texas A&M. Being able to add Baylor and Iowa State brings the field to a total of 14 around a year and a half out.

Those two are also the only Big 12 programs to take part, as of now. The goal for the ’25 event is to have 18 total teams split into three groups of six which will eventually lead to title games being played at the conclusion.

But as Norlander points out in a later tweet, Oregon is scheduled to play in the 2024 Players Era Festival but is not a part of the 2025 field. The Ducks are set to play in the Maui Invitational that season and for now, they are not making the move like Baylor.

With Baylor’s withdrawal, the 2025 Maui Invitational currently sits at seven teams. Chaminade, NC State, Oregon, Seton Hall, Texas, UNLV, and USC are still scheduled to travel to the islands around Thanksgiving. In order to complete the field, at last one more team will need to be added.

Head coach Scott Drew is scheduling for the future and will be set to face some great opponents during the 2025-26 season. He is also still working on games for this upcoming year, with just one game being confirmed per the official Baylor website. A Big 12-Big East Battle matchup against UConn will take place in Storrs on Dec. 4, making for a premier game in college basketball between two national championship-winning programs.