Bahamas Trip Cancelled

[tblack33]

This goes back to my post as you NEED to have internal meetings with the AD and Bball coordinators and checkpoints scheduled... 2 months out... 1 month out... 2 weeks out, etc. to go over all the logistics of a trip like this. You can't just throw together an International weeklong trip and wing it, or in this case, rely on a consulting party..... it's the job of Mason's people to coordinate these meeting check-ins to go over every detail and answer any questions. They should of been in constant weekly contact with this consulting group solidifying the logistics.... location of games, who they are playing, time of games, transportation to and from places, hotel accommodations, etc.

The Mason coaches/staff would need to figure out and plan daily activities for the kids in between game days to do team activities. These trips are big into team bonding with some basketball on the side. Should of had itenaries down for each day on this trip and go over them with all the staff and kids months and weeks in advance.

More concerned with the internal lapses here..... they need to review all of their internal processes and duties and roles now to make sure stuff like this never happens again.

I’m curious if any internal staffing changes have been made because of this. Hearing that over 150k may have been lost because of this, in my mind there needs to be some sort of accountability for what happened.

 

[GMUMiked]

Just catching up on this story and there is still so much missing info. We outsourced all the logistics to The VII Group who then outsourced the flights to some other unnamed company?
Did players actually show up to the airport or was that made up? If folks who bought the travel package were notified ahead of time it wasn't happening, I sure hope the team/players knew as well.
The VII Group immediately took responsibility so it doesn't seem like they were trying to scam the program. Did The VII Group get scammed or was it just incompetence?

 

[GSII]

Just make sure the flights and rooms are booked for the Duke game.

 

[Pablo]

No games, no flights: George Mason athletes stranded in travel scandal

The men's basketball team had a trip to the Bahamas planned for some exhibition games and some beach fun. But, it did not go as expected.

wjla.com

"Some GMU student-athletes were already at the airport when they discovered nothing had been booked— No flights, no hotels, and no games."

"It’s unclear how much of a deposit was put down by members of the college program.

The school also issued a statement saying, 'George Mason University is extremely disappointed for its student-athletes, coaches and supporters regarding the last-minute cancelation of the men's basketball program's foreign tour scheduled for last week in the Bahamas.'

No refunds have been issued and no word yet from the company about a refund. George Mason University has made some national news before, most notably a memorable final-four run in 2006. But now Head Coach Tony Skinn and his squad are making news after falling victim to the sudden cancellation after months of coordination by student-athletes, coaches, families, boosters and donors.

The university told 7News it was working to promptly resolve the matter and secure a full refund for those directly impacted."

 

[mkaufman1]

Just catching up on this story and there is still so much missing info. We outsourced all the logistics to The VII Group who then outsourced the flights to some other unnamed company?
Did players actually show up to the airport or was that made up? If folks who bought the travel package were notified ahead of time it wasn't happening, I sure hope the team/players knew as well.
The VII Group immediately took responsibility so it doesn't seem like they were trying to scam the program. Did The VII Group get scammed or was it just incompetence?

No games, no flights: George Mason athletes stranded in travel scandal

The men's basketball team had a trip to the Bahamas planned for some exhibition games and some beach fun. But, it did not go as expected.

wjla.com

"Some GMU student-athletes were already at the airport when they discovered nothing had been booked— No flights, no hotels, and no games."

"It’s unclear how much of a deposit was put down by members of the college program.

The school also issued a statement saying, 'George Mason University is extremely disappointed for its student-athletes, coaches and supporters regarding the last-minute cancelation of the men's basketball program's foreign tour scheduled for last week in the Bahamas.'

No refunds have been issued and no word yet from the company about a refund. George Mason University has made some national news before, most notably a memorable final-four run in 2006. But now Head Coach Tony Skinn and his squad are making news after falling victim to the sudden cancellation after months of coordination by student-athletes, coaches, families, boosters and donors.

The university told 7News it was working to promptly resolve the matter and secure a full refund for those directly impacted."

Someone like @gmubrian can correct me but essentially

1) The only players who showed up to the airport, were international players. They showed up on Tuesday, to fly early in the event of any passport issues. No other players showed up to the airport.
2) The VII Group put out an AI generated apology. Chris Williams, the owner of the group, is well known in basketball circles but apparently its come out in recent days that he owes money. It can be debated on whether the apology is genuine or not.
3) The VII group outsourced the booking to a contractor, who apparently did not book anything. However, as Brian tweeted " he has an email that states "everything has been arranged".

The other items like "why didn't Mason have meetings along the way with regards to logistics" , "will folks get money back" are still questions that will be answered at some point.

 

[Pikapppatri8]

Who is going to send in the rescue and retrieval team to get GMUBrian and GMUTom out of the Bahamas?

 

[FlPatriot]

Who is going to send in the rescue and retrieval team to get GMUBrian and GMUTom out of the Bahamas?

They’ll stay in Nassau awaiting paradise jam 2025.

 

[emjayar08]

Can we try again next summer or is the NCAA gonna shaft us and make this count as our foreign trip??

 

[Verdad]

Can we try again next summer or is the NCAA gonna shaft us and make this count as our foreign trip??

Response from any reasonable person/organization in the world: “That’s terrible, of course you can do another international trip next year.”

Likely response from NCAA: “No, and we are now investigating you for some sort of infraction.”

 

[gmutom]

I've been swamped lately and am just catching up. How'd we do in our games in the Bahamas?

 

[The Great PATSby]

I've been swamped lately and am just catching up. How'd we do in our games in the Bahamas

Just like our football team... Undefeated.

 

[gmubrian]

I've been swamped lately and am just catching up. How'd we do in our games in the Bahamas?

Peterson and Jayden Haynes had their usual numbers.

 

[GMUYoda]

Apparently the FBI is and has been involved

FBI Contacted George Mason Over Botched Bahamas Basketball Bash

The foreign tour, arranged by The VII Group, was canceled two days before the GMU men’s basketball team was due to depart.

www.sportico.com

 

[GSII]

How are they still allowed to do Hoopsgiving?

 

[gmubrian]

How are they still allowed to do Hoopsgiving?

Be careful what you wish for. If the ponzi scheme doesn't keep going, we don't get paid back any of our money.

 

[GMUgemini]

Be careful what you wish for. If the ponzi scheme doesn't keep going, we don't get paid back any of our money.

Might also be their last year hosting the event…

 

[Old Man]

How are they still allowed to do Hoopsgiving?

You may want to wait till it actually occurs to ask that question. As we found out, nothing is sure until it happens.

 

[Falco]

How are they still allowed to do Hoopsgiving?

Probably using the money from Masons to finance the hoopsgiving tournament. The other schools school drop out in solidarity with Mason!

 

[tblack33]

Apparently the FBI is and has been involved

FBI Contacted George Mason Over Botched Bahamas Basketball Bash

The foreign tour, arranged by The VII Group, was canceled two days before the GMU men’s basketball team was due to depart.

www.sportico.com

This is a surprisingly great article. Rare to see actual journalism being done nowadays, going to the extent to FOIA the ADs emails. Well done.

 

[WillWeaverRVA]

This is a surprisingly great article. Rare to see actual journalism being done nowadays, going to the extent to FOIA the ADs emails. Well done.

I was coming here to share that article. Sportico does really good investigative work, which isespecially helpful in the current Wild West of NIL schemes. They were covering the drama of the Players Era Festival last week.