Through a Public Records Request, The Daily Hoosier obtained and examined seven contracts between IU Athletics and various non-conference men’s basketball opponents for games in the upcoming season.
Three of those contracts — for Kansas, Auburn, and the Empire Classic — do not involve either side paying the other for participating. The other four are typical “buy games,” when a big school pays a smaller school to play a non-conference game at the big school’s arena, with no return leg.
The amounts IU owes for those games differs slightly, but they’re in the same vicinity.
- IU will pay Florida Gulf Coast $105,000 for the game on November 7 at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall.
- IU will pay Wright State $100,000 for the game on November 16 at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall.
- IU will pay Harvard $95,000 for the game on November 26 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
- IU will pay Kennesaw State $95,000 for the game on December 29 at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall.
All payments are due within 60 days following the game. Those schools would owe IU money if they provide notice that they won’t appear, or if they simply fail to appear.
For the four “buy game” contracts The Daily Hoosier examined, both teams are obligated to provide the other with film from two exhibition games or scrimmages, with agreement that the video is solely for coaching purposes. The Big Ten will assign the officials for those games. The four opponents in those games — Florida Gulf Coast, Wright State, Harvard, and Kennesaw State — will each get 100 complimentary tickets for the contests. 36 of those tickets are right behind the team’s bench, and 64 are “located in a location solely determined by IU.”
The “buy” game contracts are structured very similarly, so IU’s arrangements with Army, Morehead State, and North Alabama should all look similar as well.
IU’s contract for the Empire Classic gives most of the control to The Gazelle Group, which runs the event. Gazelle sets the matchups and starting times for all Empire Classic games. The two teams that lose on November 20 will play the first game on November 21, and the two winners will face off in the second game. Every participating school receives 40 complimentary tickets, and is allowed to buy “additional tickets from Gazelle for its own use and for sale to its alumni and customary ticket purchasers.” Gazelle also handles assigning officials for the Empire Classic games, through an NCAA-recognized coordinator.
The contract also specifies that cheerleaders, mascots, and pep bands of the participating schools will be admitted to the Empire Classic games for free, when in uniform. IU and the other schools have to inform Gazelle by seven days before the event of how many cheerleaders, mascots, and band members are attending. If schools opt to not send a pep band, they are required to notify Gazelle and send 50 team T-shirts and the pep band’s music, so Gazelle could find a local pep band to represent the school.
IU’s contract for the Auburn game is with The VII Group, the operators of the Holiday Hoopsgiving event that the game is part of. And while this agreement also says that the cheerleaders, dance teams, and mascots will get in for free, that term does not include pep bands.
Each participating school for the Holiday Hoopsgiving gets 100 complimentary tickets, with the option to purchase additional tickets. The VII Group is responsible for officiating assignments.
The contract between IU and Kansas from last year covered both legs of the home-and-home. The Big Ten and Big 12 mutually assigned officials for last year’s game and will do the same this year; the officiating crews must be blended crews, so both conferences are represented. The officials for last year’s game — Keith Kimble, Brooks Wells, and Doug Sirmons — all worked a large number of games for both conferences last season.
Kansas will get the same ticketing arrangement at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall this year that IU had at Allen Fieldhouse last year. The Jayhawks will get “40 complimentary tickets behind the bench and the right to purchase 200 best available tickets.”
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