The Basketball Tournament

What The Basketball Tournament does

The Basketball Tournament (TBT), operated by the parent company The Tournament, is a single-elimination, winner-take-all summer basketball tournament founded in 2014. It features college basketball alumni teams and select non-alumni squads competing for a $2 million championship purse (doubled from $1 million in 2025). The event is the flagship property of The Tournament, which launched a second property—The Soccer Tournament (TST)—in 2023 as a small-sided soccer festival. The company is privately held, headquartered in Boston, and partly owned by NBA player Chris Paul; it operates with a 1-10 employee headcount, indicating a capital-light event business model.

TBT's core proprietary technology is the Elam Ending®, a registered trademark and a game-ending format invented by founder Jonathan B. Elam. Under this format, the game clock is turned off at the start of the final period and the teams play to a predetermined target score (typically 77), with the first team to reach that score declared the winner. The format has been adopted by the NBA All-Star Game, establishing TBT as a rulemaker in basketball entertainment. The 2026 edition—branded 'TBT 2.0'—uses a 16-team field split into alumni and non-alumni brackets, with best-of-three opening rounds before single-elimination championship play.

The business model is event-driven and multi-stream. Revenue is generated primarily through broadcast rights from a national partnership with Fox Sports 1, supplemented by sponsorships, regional rivalry event monetization (e.g., Kentucky vs. Louisville), and team-level commercial partnerships such as the Davis Sports Corp sponsorship of Davis Steel. Distribution channels include national cable broadcast, live event venues across multiple U.S. regional markets (Northeast, Southeast, Midwest, West), and earned media coverage from Yahoo Sports, Sports Illustrated, and regional outlets. Customer segments are twofold: participating alumni teams (La Familia, Davis Steel, The Ville, Boeheim's Army, AfterShocks) as stakeholders, and college basketball fans as the consumer audience. The company has crowned 12 champions and awarded more than $15 million in prizes since inception.

Name

The Basketball Tournament

Legal name

The Tournament

Website

https://thetournament.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2014

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

The Basketball Tournament (TBT) is a single-elimination, winner-take-all summer basketball tournament founded in 2014, featuring college alumni and non-alumni teams competing for a $2 million prize under the proprietary Elam Ending® format. Operated by The Tournament, which also runs The Soccer Tournament (TST).

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Sports Entertainment and Live Events

NAICS

Spectator Sports (71121), Other Spectator Sports (711219)

SIC

Services-Amusement & Recreation Services (7900)

akta.pro primary industry

Sport-Specific Amateur Leagues & Circuits (Non-Professional) (MPAKACAJ)

akta.pro secondary industries

Basketball Leagues (MPAKAAAD), Collegiate & Scholastic Tournament Organizers (MPAKADAG)

Keywords

• Summer basketball tournament
• Alumni basketball teams
• Winner-take-all sports
• Sports entertainment events
• Small-sided soccer festival

Headquarters

HQ city

Boston

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Operations, Marketing or Sales, Personnel, Others

Revenue model

1. Event Broadcasting Rights: TBT generates revenue through broadcast deals with Fox Sports 1 for television coverage of tournament games.
2. Prize Distribution: TBT awards prize money to winning teams, with the 2026 champion receiving $2 million winner-take-all. The company has awarded more than $15 million in prizes since inception.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

The Basketball Tournament (TBT) operates a single-elimination, winner-take-all summer basketball tournament featuring college alumni and select non-alumni teams competing for a $2 million championship prize. Games are played at regional college basketball venues and broadcast nationally on Fox Sports 1, using its proprietary Elam Ending® format where the first team to reach a predetermined target score wins.

Product overview

The Tournament operates two flagship properties: The Basketball Tournament (TBT), founded in 2014, is a winner-take-all basketball event that has awarded over $15 million in prizes and introduced innovations like the Elam Ending format; and The Soccer Tournament (TST), launched in 2023, which has become the leading small-sided soccer festival for both men's and women's teams worldwide. The company is partly owned by NBA player Chris Paul and has crowned 12 TBT champions.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Elam Ending: An innovation introduced by TBT where the basketball game ends when the first team reaches a predetermined score (e.g., 67 points) rather than at the clock, eliminating deliberate fouling and free throws at end of games.

Products and services

• The Basketball Tournament (TBT) Single-elimination, winner-take-all summer basketball tournament featuring college alumni and select non-alumni teams competing for a $2 million championship prize, with games played at regional college basketball venues and broadcast nationally on Fox Sports 1 using the proprietary Elam Ending format.
• The Soccer Tournament (TST) Men's and women's small-sided soccer tournament festival operated as the second flagship property of The Tournament company, launched in 2023.

Quantifiable outcome

• Has crowned 12 champions and awarded more than $15 million in prizes since 2014

Named customers6 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core and flagship.

• Davis Sports CorpcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2026Davis Sports Corp partnered with Davis Steel and Eberlein Drive to rebrand the team as Davis Steel for the 2026 TBT season. This strategic partnership aims to capture the team's first championship title following a runner-up finish in 2025.
• Davis SteelcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2026Davis Steel partnered with Davis Sports Corp and Eberlein Drive to rebrand for the 2026 TBT season. The team was formerly known as Eberlein Drive and reached the championship game as runner-up in 2025.
• Russ Smith (The Ville)flagshipChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor · 1 January 2026Russ Smith, a Louisville basketball legend, acquired the rights to The Ville (Louisville alumni team) and serves as both general manager and player. He represents the team in TBT operations, effectively acting as a franchise operator for his alumni market.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Emerging players

• Athletes Unlimited: Athletes Unlimited operates multiple athlete-driven sports leagues (basketball, volleyball, lacrosse, softball) with innovative formats and player-led economics, sharing TBT's positioning as a non-traditional sports property targeting fan engagement beyond major leagues.
• World Surf League: WSL operates a tour-based, event-driven competition format with global stops and a strong summer/spectator positioning, structurally similar to TBT's regional-events-plus-national-championship model.
• Premier Lacrosse League: PLL is a summer-season professional sports league that competes for the same 'alternative/summer sports' attention and advertising dollars as TBT, with a similar broadcast-distribution model and alumni/college-rooted fan base.
• Major League Cricket: MLC is an emerging US professional league launching a new sport, comparable to TST as a recently-launched tournament/league property under the broader 'alternative sports' umbrella competing for sponsor and broadcast mindshare.

Broad incumbents

• United Football League (UFL): The UFL is a spring-season professional American football league that, like TBT, exists outside the dominant NFL window and targets alternative-season sports fans and advertisers, sharing seasonal competition with TBT's summer basketball schedule.
• ESPN Events (owned-and-operated college tournaments): ESPN Events operates several owned college sports tournaments (e.g., bowl games, invitationals) with a similar regional-venue-plus-broadcast event model, though serving current collegiate rather than alumni athletes.

Direct peers

• The Soccer Tournament (TST): TST is TBT's wholly-owned sibling property under The Tournament, applying the same winner-take-all, small-sided tournament model to soccer. It is a direct adjacent peer sharing the parent's brand, technology, and broadcast infrastructure.
• BIG3: BIG3 is a 3-on-3 professional basketball league with a winner-take-all prize structure and a summer schedule, directly competing with TBT for post-college basketball audiences, alumni/former-pro players, and broadcast/sponsorship dollars.

Regional players

• Rucker Pro Legends / Drew League: The Drew League and Rucker tournaments are long-running, regionally celebrated summer basketball events featuring former college/pro talent — the closest grassroots comparables to TBT's alumni basketball format at a smaller scale.

Others

• Fanatics / Topps trading card and memorabilia ecosystem: Fanatics operates adjacent sports collectibles, merchandise, and event experiences that complement sports event properties. It is included as an ecosystem participant that competes for sponsorship dollars and engages overlapping fan audiences with TBT.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/thetournament
• Facebookfacebook.com/thetournament

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about The Basketball Tournament