Texas A&M is offering the "right to pay $100,000 for a hotel reservation" across from Kyle Field, as the school "aims to address an issue common to college towns around the country: the scarcity of hotel rooms on football game days," according to Laine Higgins of the WALL STREET JOURNAL. For the school, the scarcity issue became even "more acute after the university renovated Kyle Field to raise the capacity to 102,733" last year. More than 750 alumni have "expressed interest in the program" at the yet-to-be-built hotel, "though not all of them had put down a refundable $5,000 deposit" as of yesterday. But less than a third of the 750 fans "will win" spots during a lottery on Thursday. 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 today. The guaranteed room options (GROs) "work much like" PSLs. Holders of GROs will get a "plaque engraved with their names on the door." School officials said that the hotel, "scheduled to be ready" for the '18 home opener, will "include two penthouses, 11 luxury suites, and 237 standard rooms." A&M "took inspiration for the hotel" from LSU. Alabama and Ole Miss also are among SEC schools to "offer similar perks" at campus-affiliated hotels. If all options "sell as expected," the GRO program will raise more than $28.5M for Texas A&M. Chains like Marriott and Hilton "pitched to operate the hotel-conference center," but A&M "decided to hold on to it in hopes of enticing a corporation ... to bid for the naming rights." Texas A&M Vice Chancellor of Business Affairs Phillip Ray said, "We think the naming right is worth north of $20 million" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 11/7).
