The Georgetown Hoyas not only lost its game on Thursday night to Arkansas State by a 78-72 margin, but Georgetown will also still have to pay Arkansas State $95,000 for the privilege. Casual Hoya can officially confirm this, having obtained a copy of the contract through a Freedom of Information Act request to Arkansas State University.
This contract includes a guarantee fee of $95,000 that Georgetown promised to Arkansas State regardless of result in the event the game was played. Georgetown will have to pay Arkansas State within a reasonable amount of time now that the game has concluded. Although the game featured as part of the Maui Invitational, Georgetown had to separately schedule an opponent.
In addition, Georgetown promised Arkansas State a handful of other perks, most of which are common to other out-of-conference opponents Georgetown schedules. Georgetown gives Arkansas State, as well as most of its other out-of-conference opponents, 100 complimentary tickets, including at least 40 right behind the bench. Additionally, Georgetown allows opponents like Arkansas State to have the opportunity to purchase more if they choose.
For those in attendance or watching at home wondering why Arkansas State had a cheering section, this can be attributed to that particular contractual detail.
While Georgetown often extends a guarantee fee to the small out-of-conference schools they play in order to round out their schedule each year, the number usually only makes headlines when teams like Georgetown lose to the schools they pay. Georgetown has a handful of buy games remaining on the schedule, but it remains to be seen whether or not Georgetown will necessarily be paying financially for any of the losses it may accrue later this season.