Travel as an issue

[ajusf16]

Maybe I just don't under stand the issue;

but how does travel have such a large affect on the conference decisions?

If you are on a plane for 2 hours or 4 hours is it really that big of a difference?

Do most athletics not fly? If this is not the case then I understand.

Enlighten me...

[charsibb]

IMO, it's not so much the travel for the team that's the problem, as it is the travel for the fans, most of whom would not go unless it's driving distance.

[Who'sYourData?]

And it is a cost issue. Boise State has estimated that being in the Big East for football alone will increase their travel costs by approximately $200,000 per year. Imagine if they were in the Big East for all sports.

[USFbulls0208]

For Olympic sports, which don't make much money, father travel = higher costs

[SANJAY]

For Olympic sports, which don't make much money, father travel = higher costs

Father travel and mother nature make things tough.

[IncrediBULL]

For all sports except football, most schools travel via commercial airlines. Traveling commercial, on a limited travel budget, causes them to have lengthy flights.

For example, one of USF's women's teams recently had a game out of state on Saturday night. Due to return flights, connections, and costs, they didn't get home until Sunday around 6 pm. They had to fly up at the crack of dawn on Saturday. Remember, they are students and have classes, studying, and want to have some form of social life.

The football team, however, goes up when they want on a chartered aircraft. THen after the game, they take a private coach to the airport, to a private runway, and bypass normal security mechanisms in the airport, and hop on their private plane and go from A to B (not A to B then C and sometimes D).

It is a huge impact..... They don't fly private jets.

[Buller64]

Considering the costs of commercial airlines, hotels etc. I wonder if it would be cost effective to have a private jet (seats 40 - 60) for the olympic sports and just fly the teams direct. Perhaps a modified DC-10 where the front part of the plane is seating and the back part are cots/bunks for sleeping on overnight flights back from games.