Team Organizers are tasked with knowing this basic tournament information. Staff is always available to answer any questions you may have that may not be covered or which may need clarification. The contact information can be found in the Contact Us tab on the Home Page of this site.
The answers to the questions listed are essential for your success in the tournament and your understanding will make for a smooth tournament week.
The MBA is offering age Divisions for 2025.
Women’s 40+, 50+, 55+, 60+
Men’s 40 – 49+, 50+, 55+, 60+, 65+, 70+, 75+, 80+
Players are eligible to play in an age division if they have reached the age of that division in any month of the calendar year of the tournament.
For example, if your 50th birthday occurs in any month of 2025, you would be eligible to play in the 50+ Division. Although not recommended, players may also play down in a younger division.
Click on the [Enter Your Team] button on the websites Home Page.
All necessary information, including fees and entry deadlines are contained in that tab.
Our venues and time schedule can accommodate up to 60+ total teams within our age divisions for each tournament. Divisions will consist of 4, 6, and 8 team divisions.
All team entries are on a first come, first served basis.
VERY IMPORTANT REMINDER: If your team entry makes an odd number of teams in the division, entry #7, #9, #11, #13, your entry will be pending until such time that another team submits their entry to make an even number of team in the division. We do not have any odd number team divisions except for a 5-team division.
We advise not booking any air travel until you are notified that another team has entered in the division.
The Staff will do all we can to locate another team to make an even number within the division, however, there is no guarantee that we will be successful. An alternative would be to offer your team the option to “play down” in a younger age division, assuming there is space available.
If we cannot enter your team your entry fee and uniform deposit will be promptly refunded.
The Masters Basketball Association, Inc. reserves the right to refuse any entry and has the final decision on all team entries.
Every team is guaranteed to play a minimum of four games. This would include the preliminary games on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and a semi-final game on Friday. Teams advancing to a Finals game on Saturday will play a fifth game.
The Men’s 40 – 49+ division tournament games will start on Thursday of tournament week and teams will play 2 games on Thurs and Friday with the finals and consolation finals on Saturday.
The MBA National Masters Championship is made up of age divisions consisting of either 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, & 16 teams.
After the entry deadline, the Staff evaluates all entries and assigns a seeding to each team. This seeding is based on previous experience in the tournament and on apparent roster strength of known players.
After seeding, teams are placed in brackets based on the size of the Division. As much as possible, we will separate teams that met in the semi finals or finals of the previous year, assuming their rosters are similar to the previous year.
In a 4-team division, teams are seeded 1 – 4. You play each team in the division once in preliminary play Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.
The first place team plays the fourth-place team and the second-place team plays the third-place team in the semi finals on Friday.
The semi final winners move to the Championship final on Saturday. The semi-final loser’s will have completed their 4th guaranteed game.
In a 5 team Division, team are seeded 1 through 5. Each team plays the other Tuesday through Friday.
Each team will have one day during the tournament week where they will play 2 games on one day. On days where a team plays 2 games, one game will be early in the day and the second in the evening. This is the only way a 5 team division schedule can work.
The teams finishing 1st and 2nd will play in the Championship Final on Saturday. The other teams will have completed their 4 guaranteed games.
In a six-team division, teams are seeded into two three-team brackets. Seeds 1, 4, and 6 are in Bracket 1 and seeds 2, 3 and 5 in Bracket 2. In preliminary play on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, you will play the other two teams in your bracket and a “crossover” game against a team in the other bracket.
The first place teams in each bracket play the second-place teams in the other bracket in the Championship semi final games on Friday. Winning teams will advance to the Championship Finals game on Saturday. The semi-final losers will have completed their 4th guaranteed game.
The two teams finishing 3rd in each bracket will play each other on Friday in the Consolation Final which would be the fourth game for each team.
In an eight-team division, there will be two 4-team brackets. Seeds 1, 4, 5 and 8 are in Bracket 1 and seeds 2, 3, 6 and 7 in Bracket 2. You will play each team in your bracket in preliminary play Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.
The first place teams in each bracket play the second-place teams in the other bracket in the Championships semi final games on Friday.
The third place teams in each bracket play the fourth-place teams in the other bracket in the Consolation semi final games on Friday.
The semi-final winners advance to the Championship and Consolation Finals on Saturday.
The semi-final losers will have completed their 4th guaranteed game.
Depending on the numbers of teams in the division, teams will be seeded and then broken up into brackets of 3, 4, or 5 teams. Bracket play is key in these type of divisions. Bracket play will be Tues, Weds and Thurs, with championship and consolation semi-finals on Friday basket on a teams bracket record. Finals and consolation finals are held on Saturday.
Quite often there will be ties in your bracket based on the win – loss records. In order to determine advancement, the following system will be used.
Rarely will the tie breaker determination go beyond item 3 – Points
It is important for Team Organizers to track your point total throughout the week and especially going into the Thursday game as this can determine your advancement to the semi-finals.
Jerseys – Each team must have a light and a dark jersey for each player with regulation basketball numbers both front and back (a reversible jersey is acceptable). All jerseys must be of the same color and style.
Shorts – Each team must wear shorts of the same color and style. For example if you select red shorts with a white stripe, all players must have red shorts with a white stripe. Experience shows that a solid color short; black, red, white, blue etc. is the easiest to manage. Many teams are now coming with very nice uniforms with team and player names, having both a light set and a dark set.
Team Forfeit/Uniform Deposit – Each team submits a $200 Team Forfeit/Uniform Deposit with their team entry. For teams that meet the uniform standard and play all scheduled games, the $200 Team Forfeit/Uniform Deposit will be returned in full after the tournament.
Uniform Deposit Fine – The fine is on a per game basis, $25 if all player’s jerseys or all player’s shorts don’t meet the standard. If there is both a jersey and shorts violation for a game, the fine is $50. Fines will be deducted from your Uniform Deposit refund.
Note: The higher seeded team will wear their light colored jerseys for ALL games, including the semi-finals and finals.
The purpose of the meeting is to:
Prior to leaving the meeting, all Team Organizers or your designated Representative will be required to turn in your Finalized Game Roster. All rosters will be FROZEN after being reviewed, signed and turned in. MBA office staff will be in the room to assist with finalizing your roster.
No further additions or deletions can be made to your Game Roster after the Team Organizer or Team Representative leaves the meeting.
Our expectation is that you will bring a minimum of 8 players. You are allowed to carry a maximum of 12 players.
If it will be difficult for you to get 8 players to show up for the tournament, you might want to reconsider your entry.
Listing a player on your Game Roster, does not make him “Game Eligible”.
You must let players know that they are required to complete the Player Registration paperwork and check in at the Tournament Office before they are “Game Eligible” and can be entered into the scorebook.
MBA Player Registration
First time players will also be required to show proof of age. A driver’s license is the best ID to present if ID is required.
Your players should be registered well in advance of game time. Players that are not registered prior to tip-off will have to wait until the beginning of the second half to play. Players registering after the second half has tipped off will not be allowed to play until the next game.
As a Team Organizer, it is your responsibility to have a minimum of five players, registered and ready to play each game at the scheduled time. We have scheduled games so that even with an occasional overtime game, we are generally on schedule.
Players will be able to do their registration online through the website for 2025. Players will also be able to register at the MBA tournament office starting Monday at 12 noon through Thursday evening.
Teams are required to play all games as scheduled. Forfeiting games in this tournament is not allowed! Each team is expected to bring a minimum of 8 players and to always to have 5 players on hand for every game. However, we strongly urge you to bring 10 players. It is a vigorous week of basketball and some injuries do occur.
The penalty for forfeiting any game is the immediate forfeiture of your $200 Team Forfeit/Uniform Deposit. Half of the deposit will be shared with the team that showed up but was unable to play their game.
Under the direction of Supervisor of Officials, Peter Battaglia, the MBA contracts only NCAA qualified and top-rated high school officials.
MBA officials receive an orientation briefing conducted by the Supervisor of Officials and tournament Staff prior to tournament play. At the orientation, officials are briefed regarding the unique nature of the tournament as a national masters event. The latest NCAA rules are discussed and any special interpretations of the NCAA rules as they may apply to this tournament are agreed to. This information will be included in the Team Organizers Packet and will be reviewed at the Team Organizers meeting on Tuesday morning of tournament week.
We are quite confident that you will find the quality of our officials meets the very high standards of the tournament and that they will treat all of your games and players with the upmost of seriousness and respect.
That same level of respect is also expected from you and your team.
The MBA will use 3-man crews for divisions:
Women 40+, 50+, 55+, 60+
Men 40 – 49+, 50+, 55+, 60+, 65+ and 2-man crews for divisions 70+, 75+, and 80+.
Certified Athletic Trainers; from Nova Southeastern University’s Sports Medicine Department work the tournament. They are fully equipped with AED’s (Automated External Defibrillators) and trained in emergency CPR procedures. A trainer will be on hand at all venues starting with the commencement of games on Tuesday. Their primary duties are to provide treatment of minor injuries and are generally available to do some some taping. Obviously they cannot tape every player on every team.
In an emergency situation, Table Staff members have been briefed to immediately contact 911 and summon the Trainer on duty to the assistance of the injured player.
MBA also has made arrangement with local medical facilities for both minor medical needs as well as more serious situations. Arrangements will be made with the tournament physician to smooth the way for our players into a hospital emergency room if such a need arises.
If emergency medical care is needed, both Coral Springs Medical Center Hospital and Northwest Regional Hospital can be reached within 5 to 10 minutes via Coral Springs EMS. The EMS personnel are aware of the tournament and the main fire station is located one block from the Coral Springs Gym. Coral Springs EMS units are also located in close proximity to our auxiliary venues.
The MBA tournament has a number of awards for both team and individual player recognition.
Sportsman of the Year
Our Sportsman of the Year award recognizes an individual who, over a number of years of participation in the tournament, has come to symbolize the very best qualities of sportsmanship and competitive fair play. This award is considered the most prestigious award that is given. The recipient of this award is given a very nice plaque, and a MBA Tournament ring. Candidates for this special award should be directed to the Sportsman Selection Committee of the MBA Board of Directors. Board member Steve Nelson is the current Chairman of this committee.
Team Awards
Attractive awards are given to the Team Organizers or Coaches of first- and second-place teams in the Championship Finals and to winning and second place in any Consolation Finals.
Player Awards
Each player in a Championship team will receive an award for being on the championship team. Players on the second place teams will also received a unique award.
All Tournament Teams
An “All Tournament” team comprised of 10 players is named for each age division. After each preliminary and semi-final game, tournament staff and coaches select players who have had an “All Tournament” type performance. These votes are tallied at the end of the week and the top 10 vote getters in each age division are named to an “All Tournament” team. Each of these players will be presented with an award recognizing their accomplishment.
Most Valuable Player Awards
The very prestigious Gordon D. Pope MVP Ring by Jostens, designed especially for the MBA is awarded to the MVP for each of the Men’s Age Divisions. The Women’s Divisions will receive an elegant trophy. MVPs are as a rule, chosen from the Championship teams.