Why TCU to the Big East really does makes sense ...

[Guest nybullsfan]

Yes, TCU moving to the Big East can actually make sense. Even from a travel standpoint.

Yesterday on ESPN Radio, the announcer made the oft-repeated comment that the travel budget for TCU will be much worse in the BE than in the MWC, and therefore it was a stupid thing for them to consider. (I think it was Doug Gottlieb filling in for Scott Van Pelt, but not sure). Anyway, maybe it reflects the general USA geographical ignorance on just how friggin' big the MWC area is and how far out of it TCU already is, who knows.

But it annoys me every time I hear it, so I ran the numbers, and here they are: (Are you listening, ESPN?)

• Average highway miles from TCU to MWC rivals = 1,157 miles. BE = 1,326 miles. +14.6%
  
• Average highway time from TCU to BE rivals = 19h5m. BE = 21h48m. +14.2%
  
•  
  
• Average air miles from TCU (DFW) to MWC rivals = 1,018 miles. BE = 1,202 miles. +18.0%
  
• Average air time from TCU (DFW) to BE rivals = 3h54m. BE = 4h9m. +6.2%
  
•  
  
• Average air miles from TCU (FTW) to MWC rivals = 981 miles. BE = 1,166 miles. +18.8%
  
• Average air time from TCU (FTW) to BE rivals = 2h25m. BE = 2h48m. + 15.4%
  
  

As you can see the differences are not nearly as much as folks seem to think. I SUSPECT that the AQ BCS bid in the Big East and the increase in TV revenue, would trumps the small increase in travel by a wide margin.

Notes:

• I used the new 10-team MWC members (w/o Utah and BYU, with BSU, UNR, Fresno)
  
• Starting and destination locations are the football stadiums currently in use, whether on or off campus
  
• For the non-football BE programs, I used the current basketball arena, whether on or off campus
  
• I found the locations by clicking: Wikipedia to Geohack to Google Maps
  
• Highway miles and driving times were calculated from stadium to stadium using Google Maps
  
• Flight times and distances came from travelmath.com
  
• Air miles (DFW) were calculated from DFW to the nearest airport with a DIRECT commercial flight from DFW (i.e. NO changing planes allowed - list of DFW destinations from dfwairport.com)
  
• Boise and Cuse are the 2 outliers, neither are easy to get to from DFW, but BSU is not as bad as I thought, and Cuse is worse. For BSU, I'm assuming DFW to Salt Lake, then a bus to BSU. For Cuse, I'm assuming DFW to Newark, then a bus. In either case, changing planes would prolly be faster. But for the MWC/BE comparison sake, it's a wash.
  
• Air miles (FTW) were calculated from Ft. Worth Meacham Airport to the nearest Gulfstream capable airport (for comparison in case they use chartered flights or corporate jets)
  
• Average air time includes travel time to the airports on each end, plus the flight time. Waiting, check-in time, etc is ignored as it should wash out in comparisons.
  

What is NOT included here is the # of commercial flights per day from DFW, which would represent the measure of convenience between 2 locations. I couldn't find a good link for this. If anyone has one, please let me know, and I'll update the data to include it. I SUSPECT this would be in favor of the BE, since most of our schools are in bigger cities with more direct flights from DFW, but I don't KNOW it for a fact.

Why it MIGHT NOT actually make sense for TCU to join the BE, from a travel budget perspective...

Even considering the above, one thing that is NOT considered here (since these are average numbers) is that the BE would have more members than the MWC, and therefore the TOTAL conference travel for basketball and olympic sports might be more than for the MWC. This would be based on the NUMBER of TRIPS, rather than the DISTANCE of the trips. And so this could be true if TCU joined ANY conference with more members than the MWC.

For example, if TCU was forced to drop a cross-town volleyball trip to SMU and instead fly to DePaul or Seton Hall, then it might cost them more. Without data on TCU's OOC scheduling, I can't make a determination on this. And I'm far too lazy to look it up, epecially for basketball and olympic sports.

But you can bet someone at TCU is crunching these numbers as we speak...

SOURCE DATA ATTACHED:

If you want it to open in XL instead of Notepad, it's easy - just rename the file extension from TXT to CSV and double-click it.

[Kizarvexis]

Similar things were said about USF's move to the Big East. And while yes, the number of miles USF travels in the Big East is more than USF traveled in C-USA, USF's travel costs went down according to the university. Their analysis was that since the BE schools were nearer to big airports than the C-USA schools, there were less connections to get to the school and more selection among support facilities like hotels. This made the BE travel costs slightly cheaper than the costs to C-USA. IIRC. it wasn't a huge difference for a BCS school, but enough with USF's smaller than average budget to make a real difference.

[bulldoze]

If TCU wins the BCS National Championship this year, is there any reason to move conferences?  Won't they have an easier time running through their conference (minus Boise State when they come in) to get to a National Championship every year?

[BleedGreenAndGold]

If TCU wins the BCS National Championship this year, is there any reason to move conferences?  Won't they have an easier time running through their conference (minus Boise State when they come in) to get to a National Championship every year?

I don't see a huge benefit for TCU to join the Big East.  It may make it easier for them to get to a BCS bowl game but an undefeated MWC team is just as likely to play for the MNC as an undefeated Big East team. Which is to say not very.

[usf97]

If TCU wins the BCS National Championship this year, is there any reason to move conferences?  Won't they have an easier time running through their conference (minus Boise State when they come in) to get to a National Championship every year?

I don't see a huge benefit for TCU to join the Big East.  It may make it easier for them to get to a BCS bowl game but an undefeated MWC team is just as likely to play for the MNC as an undefeated Big East team. Which is to say not very.

That is not neccesarily true.....TCU has been working on this ranking for more than one season now. They started out ranked high....thus they are being included in NC conversation. However, had they had an off year last year....they could go undefeated and start out unranked.....and not be part of the National Championship Conversation.

The BE would basically bring them in more money year in and year out also compared to the MWC.

The BE would also bring them more TV exposure....could you find that game yesterday?

[BleedGreenAndGold]

If TCU wins the BCS National Championship this year, is there any reason to move conferences?  Won't they have an easier time running through their conference (minus Boise State when they come in) to get to a National Championship every year?

I don't see a huge benefit for TCU to join the Big East.  It may make it easier for them to get to a BCS bowl game but an undefeated MWC team is just as likely to play for the MNC as an undefeated Big East team. Which is to say not very.

That is not neccesarily true.....TCU has been working on this ranking for more than one season now. They started out ranked high....thus they are being included in NC conversation. However, had they had an off year last year....they could go undefeated and start out unranked.....and not be part of the National Championship Conversation.

The BE would basically bring them in more money year in and year out also compared to the MWC.

The BE would also bring them more TV exposure....could you find that game yesterday?

Big East is in the same position as far as rankings go. No one in the Big East gets ranked just because of who they are. MAYBE West Virginia a little and that's a big maybe.

The money may be better, but is it enough better to justify the jump? You figure BSU and TCU bring in BCS bowl money every year as long as their coaches stay. I have no idea what TCU's financials are or what the MWC split is.

Yes I found their game yesterday but you're right, they would probably benefit exposure wise.

Joining the Big East doesn't give them a better shot at the MNC, but like every team in the Big East they're just a head coaching change away from irrelevance. Long term it may be a good for them. But not as big for them right now as it would be for say, ECU or UCF. I guess my point is that while it may be good it's not so obviously good that thy would just have to jump all over a football only invite if that's what it is.

[Donno]

wow, great research, you have some time on your hands...

Not to mention, the cost of air travel is very loosely connected to distance if they were to fly commercial.  and if they were not the cost would not be 18% higher, much of the cost of chartering a plane is fixed and 18% difference in distance will not be 18% increase in price.

They are in hub city with lots of options.  As you pointed out, this is a ridiculous statement.

[Rizman]

Here is what is going to happen.

PAC 10 and Big 10 will make a move to increase team count to 16.  When that happens ACC and SEC will have to respond.  I see teams from ACC jumping to SEC and the Big East getting raided by BIG 10.  So why all this talk about BIG East.   They are making a move to prevent a melt down in their conference.  I don't think it will be enough though.  

Where does that leave USF.  Well I think USF will be in the ACC replacing FSU after they are taken by SEC.

Ultimately what will probably happen is you will have 4 conferences of 16 teams that will pay for the National Championship.

TCU is a good short term defensive play by the Big East.

[Guest nybullsfan]

So, does anyone have a good link for the number of flights per day for all destinations from DFW?

IMO, this would be the real "nail in the coffin" for the "ridiculous statement" especially for Basketball and the Olympic sports, which are more likely to fly commercial than charter.

It's not that I "had" the time - I "made" the time because I was so annoyed, LOL

[Guest Sunburned]

"Que Sera, Sera,

Whatever will be, will be

The future's not ours, to see

Que Sera, Sera

What will be, will be."