{"id":248885,"date":"2026-04-14T07:59:26","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T07:59:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/248885\/"},"modified":"2026-04-14T07:59:26","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T07:59:26","slug":"university-of-dallas-basketball-trip-in-jeopardy-after-bankruptcy-nbc-5-dallas-fort-worth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/248885\/","title":{"rendered":"University of Dallas basketball trip in jeopardy after bankruptcy \u2013 NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth"},"content":{"rendered":"

The University of Dallas men\u2019s basketball team<\/a> is scrambling to keep a long-planned trip to the United Kingdom alive after a sports travel company filed for bankruptcy.<\/p>\n

Matt Grahn, head coach of the Crusaders, said the program made two $30,000 payments to Go Play LLC<\/a> before the company notified customers it was ceasing operations.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was a gut punch,\u201d Grahn said. \u201cI\u2019m tired, I\u2019m angry, I\u2019m frustrated.\u201d<\/p>\n

Grahn said the Division III program planned to play in a two-game event in London at the end of May. The trip was especially meaningful for graduating senior Mike Kennedy, who hoped to close out his basketball career in front of family and friends.<\/p>\n

Instead, Grahn said he learned April 6 that Go Play LLC would no longer accept payments or fulfill bookings.<\/p>\n

The company cited reduced bookings and increased cancellations \u201cdue to the ongoing situation in the Middle East,\u201d according to an email sent to customers.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlease know that GoPlay did not make this decision lightly and explored several options to avoid this outcome, including refinancing, raising new capital, and a potential sale of the business. Unfortunately, GoPlay has been unable to identify a way to continue operating,\u201d the email said.<\/p>\n

Grahn said players spent much of the past 18 months fundraising about $2,500 for the trip, including hosting camps and clinics and working as ushers at events at AT&T Stadium.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey put elbow grease into this thing and worked their tails off,\u201d Grahn said. \u201cAnd I think that\u2019s why it hurts so bad.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s two years of hard fundraising work, just gone,\u201d Kennedy said.<\/p>\n

Kennedy told NBC 5 he first picked up basketball in England at age 13 and grew seven inches in just a few months. The 6-foot-8 senior said he has not stopped playing since.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy whole dream from like 16 onwards was to play basketball in America, and here I am now,\u201d Kennedy said.<\/p>\n

Kennedy said he remains hopeful the team can still make the trip for games scheduled in late May and early June.<\/p>\n

Grahn said he is seeking sponsorship support, either from an individual or a company, to help cover the costs.<\/p>\n

\u201cSimilar to coaching, you\u2019ve got to figure out what your game plan is from there and then execute it,\u201d Grahn said.<\/p>\n

The Massachusetts Attorney General\u2019s Office told NBC 5 it has received at least 25 consumer complaints about the Boston-based business this year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The University of Dallas men\u2019s basketball team is scrambling to keep a long-planned trip to the United Kingdom…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":248886,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[1770,102,104,103],"class_list":{"0":"post-248885","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-dallas","10":"tag-dallas-headlines","11":"tag-dallas-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248885","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=248885"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248885\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/248886"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=248885"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=248885"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=248885"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}