Texas A&M is charging alums six figures for the right to book a hotel room next to the football stadium

Submitted by tatchev on

Things are getting out hand...

"Texas A&M University on Thursday will hold a lottery in which the winners walk away with an unusual—and very expensive—prize: The right to pay $100,000 for a hotel reservation.
 
The six-figure price tag is largely based on a single amenity: The yet-to-be-built hotel will sit across the street—96 feet away, to be exact—from Kyle Field, where the Aggie football team plays six or seven games each year.
 
Sound absurd? Thus far more than 750 Texas A&M alumni have expressed interest in the program, though not all of them had put down a refundable $5,000 deposit as of Monday. Less than a third of that number will win. For sleeping quarters on the hotel’s top floor—13 suites and 36 standard rooms—the deposit was $10,000. Those reservations, where the starting point for bids ranges from $125,000 to $475,000, will be auctioned off on Tuesday." WSJ

 

https://www.wsj.com/articles/coming-soon-to-campus-the-100-000-hotel-ro…

 

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General SEC Schadenfreude

MGoBlueNEO

November 6th, 2017 at 4:46 PM ^

"The guaranteed room options, or GROs, work much like the personal seat licenses now offered by many professional sports teams—only for hotel rooms rather than season tickets. At A&M, the holders will make a one-time, tax-deductible $100,000 donation to the university in exchange for the right to reserve a specific room on any day for the next 10 years. They also get a plaque engraved with their names on the door."

Joined: 09/12/2010

MGoPoints: 259

goblue16

November 6th, 2017 at 3:00 PM ^

Proof that College football is king. What other sport can do this to fans with a mediocre program. Ridiculous but shows the passion people have for the sport

Joined: 03/28/2010

MGoPoints: 17468

Esterhaus

November 6th, 2017 at 3:04 PM ^

Back when I used to race yachts for syndicates my skipper, an oilman, sported a bumper sticker on his car: "Please don't tell my mother I work in the oil patch, she thinks I'm the piano player in a brothel." It's their money. We have Steve Ross et al.

Joined: 03/16/2015

MGoPoints: 7733

stephenrjking

November 6th, 2017 at 3:25 PM ^

That's a lot of money.

But obviously, also a market.

And when I think about it, I can't exactly defend or endorse this but I can understand it. Let's imagine this from a Michigan fan perspective and start with 2 premises:
1. You are a huge Michigan fan for whom football Saturdays are a highlight of your year (that's a lot of people on this board).
2. You have virtually unlimited supplies of money (not a lot of people on this board).

There aren't huge numbers of people who fit both 1 and 2. But there are some. The question, then, is: does the idea of staying in a private hotel room as close to the Stadium as, say, Crisler Center sound appealing? Skipping traffic and other travel hassles? Popping back into the room after a game to watch other football games on what is doubtless a huge television, or (at night) watching a good day's worth of games before a 5-minute walk to your luxury box for the game?

If I were worth $100 million, that sounds very appealing to me. And, apparently, it sounds appealing to a number of rich Texas A&M fans, too. 

Joined: 03/15/2012

MGoPoints: 20143524

M-Dog

November 6th, 2017 at 3:45 PM ^

It's all based on percentages.

What percent are you spending of what you have?

I spent $50 on close-in parking at a sports event recently because I wanted the convience.  That's a stupid and absurd amount to pay for a few hours of parking when I could have gone much cheaper further out.

But it was not enough that it was going to break me.  It was a small percentage of what I have.

If you are a mult-millionaire, $100,000 (probably tax deductable) is a small percentage of what you have.  It's not going to break you.  So you do it if you really want to.

 

Joined: 07/06/2008

MGoPoints: 257418

ghostofhoke

November 6th, 2017 at 7:08 PM ^

And it’s good for 10 years. Post tax you’re talking $60-70k depending on how good your accountant would have been without this deduction opportunity so you’re talking 6-7k/yr or $1k/game to stay in the hotel. I easily spend $1000/weekend when I come in for games. Obviously they have to pay for the room too but the $60-70k is paid for in advance so we stop thinking about it. Lots of convenience and clearly there is a market for it. I’ve never been to College Station so I can’t comment on the hotel situation there but I can definitely say I’d spend way more for a better hotel situation than staying way the fuck out in Briarwood all
The time in AA. If you’ve got millions and you’re not contributing $6-10k per year to your alma mater you’re an asshole anyway. So I’m not that surprised there would be a few hundred people in Texas who would love to go for this.

Joined: 11/21/2014

MGoPoints: 8562

SBayBlue

November 6th, 2017 at 3:59 PM ^

In state tuition is about $10K/year at A&M.

How about sending 10 kids to a school that they can't afford instead of blowing this on the rights to make a reservation at a hotel?

I'm a capitalist, but people not knowing how to do something good for society with their money says alot about us these days.

Joined: 06/29/2015

MGoPoints: 3586

redwhiteandMGOBLUE

November 6th, 2017 at 6:58 PM ^

what those wealthy enough to afford the hotel psl do or do not with their money?

They could already be funding dozens of scholarships, be like Randolph and Mortimer Duke or somewhere in between. But to assume that they're automatically not charitable their money because they can afford a ridiculous hotel psl is a little unfair.

 

Joined: 07/08/2008

MGoPoints: 34127