Let it snow: Georgetown to drop prices after impending blizzard

— -- If you're a Georgetown fan, there is at least one positive to the blizzard expected to hit Washington, D.C., this weekend. The more it snows, the cheaper a ticket to Hoyas home games will be next week.

The school announced a promotion Thursday morning that will be tied to the number of inches of snow the area receives.

If it snows less than five inches, tickets to Tuesday's home game against Creighton and the Jan. 30 home game against Providence will be 10 percent off. With each increment of five inches, the discount goes up by 10 percent. If it snows at least 20 inches, tickets to both games will be 50 percent off.

"I just remember seeing all these furniture stores around New Year's offering certain discounts if it snowed," said Chris Grosse, Georgetown's director of marketing. "So we figured, how can we take advantage of the impending doom here?"

A blizzard warning is in effect for the Washington, D.C., region. Snow accumulations of 18 to 24 inches in the eastern suburbs are expected, with western suburbs expected to receive 24 to 30 inches. Washington itself is forecast to receive around 24 inches of snow.

Grosse said the school will take the official reading from Reagan International Airport in Arlington, Virginia, by Sunday morning. Georgetown will then announce the discount, and Hoyas fans will have until the end of the night Sunday to take advantage of the reduced prices.

"We figure there will be a lot of people online Sunday night looking for things to do," Grosse said.

The cheapest ticket to the two games, without the discount, is $15, while the most expensive is $68.

This is not the first time a school has done a weather-based promotion this year. In October, the Duke football team played " Tropical Roulette" with its fans for the Boston College game for the rain coming in from Hurricane Joaquin. Discounts up to 50 percent were applied based on the rain forecast for the game. The weather didn't turn out to be a problem, and Duke won 9-7.

The Hoyas are 12-7 after downing No. 5 Xavier on Tuesday night. They are averaging about 9,000 fans per game. Georgetown plays at Connecticut on Saturday.