Rumors Are Swirling That George Mason Men’s Basketball Team Was Allegedly Scammed In “Fyre-Fest-Esque” Bahamas Tournament

Was George Mason accidentally caught up in college basketball’s version of “Fyre Fest?”

The story is still unfolding, but the internet started running with some of the spotty information earlier today that would lead college basketball fans to believe that George Mason got scammed. According to some reports, the George Mason men’s basketball team was supposed to travel to the Bahamas on Thursday for an “international tour,” where the college team would play against national teams that also traveled to the event. George Mason was actually scheduled to play in a game today.

However, apparently everything fell apart at the last second, as the George Mason team found out that the company they had trusted to book the trip – the VII Group – never actually scheduled any flights. There were some rumblings that the team didn’t find out this until they got to the airport, but more recent reports have suggested that isn’t true.

Though what does seem to be true is that boosters and supporters of George Mason had already traveled to the Bahamas to watch their team play – and their team never showed up. That’s because the whole event was canceled due to the team’s inability to make it to the Bahamas without flights, along with some other apparent shortcomings from the planning group.

VII Group, the “sports event marketing group” that was trusted by George Mason to put much of the tour together, released an official statement in regards to the late and abrupt cancellation of the event:

“It is with deep regret and sincere apologies that the VII Group announces the cancelation of the George Mason University Men’s Basketball team’s foreign tour to The Bahamas, initially scheduled for this summer. This unforeseen outcome is not only a profound disappointment to all involved but a failure that we at The VII Group take full accountability for.

We are deeply sorry for the inconvenience and disappointment this has caused. Our immediate focus is on making amends and working diligently to regain the confidence of the George Mason University Men’s Basketball program and its supporters.”

Like I stated earlier, trying to find a reliable source for what’s actually going on with the George Mason men’s basketball team has been challenging. The team itself hasn’t even came out and released a statement, but it has been confirmed that they were scheduled to be playing in the Bahamas today and into this weekend (and now they aren’t).

Trusted basketball analyst Jeff Goodman provided the most recent update to the story with this statement that set out to clear up some of the rumors that have been swirling on college hoops social media this morning:

“Chris Williams, the organizer of George Mason’s trip to the Bahamas, told The Field of 68 that he takes full responsibility for the cancellation of the trip.

He said that the company he outsourced the flights never booked them, but the hotels and games were booked and scheduled, and had to be cancelled. Williams also told there is no truth to report that George Mason team got to the airport before finding out the flights hadn’t been booked.”

It has yet to be confirmed whether George Mason has been forced to forfeit the money that was invested into the now defunct tournament. Some posts earlier were suggesting that the university lost “six figures,” but there is no concrete evidence to either confirm or deny that number.

All in all, it seems like a very messy situation that George Mason accidentally got themselves into, and it does feel a little bit like a “Fyre Fest” scheme. Though the VII Group wasn’t mentioned directly in that statement above, there’s a good chance that they swindled the college basketball team out of some money if they took a payment and never booked any flights.

The only thing I can really confirm about the incident is that the memes making fun of George Mason have been a delight to scroll through: