Monarchist13
Moderator
Posts: 16,857
Joined: May 2012
Reputation: 482
I Root For: ODU
Location: 757
|
RE: Travel costs in C-USA
(04-26-2017 03:09 PM)WKUYG Wrote: One thing Western is doing in OOC football games....
scheduling regional games that can be bus trips if they choose to...4 to 6 hours. I don't know if Western still charters or buses to those games.
ODU is doing the same thing for the most part;
2017:
Albany Sept. 2
@UMass Sept. 9
UNC Sept. 16
@Virginia Tech Sept. 23
2018:
Virginia Tech Sept. 8
@ECU Sept. 29
VMI TBA
@UVA Nov. 17
2019:
Norfolk State Aug. 31 ("New" Foreman Field Opening)
@Virginia Tech Sept. 7
Buffalo Sept. 14
ECU Sept. 28
2020:
@ Buffalo Sept. 12
Wake Forest Sept. 19
UNC Sept. 26
UVA Nov. 12
|
|
04-27-2017 07:49 AM |
|
arkstfan
Sorry folks
Posts: 25,818
Joined: Feb 2004
Reputation: 967
I Root For: Fresh Starts
Location:
|
RE: Travel costs in C-USA
(04-27-2017 07:16 AM)Fort Bend Owl Wrote: People are telling me these days that Southwest isn't as cheap as it used to be. There are alternatives that are now cheaper although some (like Spirit Airlines) are apparently a pain to fly.
There are times I drive two hours from Little Rock to Memphis to fly Frontier because SW is that much more expensive out of LIT and MEM.
NOW there is a huge difference and you can get fee yourself into paying just as much with Frontier. What I do is I buy my wife a ticket and pay the extra for it to include one checked bag and one carryon and "refundable" (a one year credit toward airfare) and I buy the super cheap ticket, don't check a bag and don't bring on anything that won't fit under a seat, and pay the extra $7 or whatever to pick my seat so I can sit with my wife. That plus cheaper parking at Memphis means it's not unusual to save $250 to $300 vs Southwest.
|
|
04-27-2017 08:15 AM |
|
HarborPointe
North American Champion
Posts: 5,650
Joined: May 2010
Reputation: 594
I Root For: Southern Miss
Location: Parts Unknown
|
RE: Travel costs in C-USA
(04-27-2017 01:08 AM)FriscoDawg Wrote: If whoever at the conference office is in charge of scheduling the football crossover games would pull their head out of wherever it has been stuck the last four years, they would realize that with 14 teams every team SHOULD play every other team in a 4-year period and home-and-home within 7 years. The same crossover games should not be played three years in a row which is exactly what we have in several cases this year. Too many teams will still have never played each other in five years after this season.
I don't disagree that 14 teams may be too many, but IMO under 12 is probably too few. With 12 teams in football, rivalries could actually be developed in crossover games as every team would play a full home-and-home against the other division every 4 years even playing only 8 conference games. And in basketball the conference schedule could be reduced to 16 games with 12 teams by playing home-and-home within the divisions and 3 home/3 road crossover games that would alternate every year. For those wanting to cut travel costs, that could mean up to 3 fewer basketball crossover road games per year.
The UAB situation may have thrown a wrench in the works with football scheduling. That said, it still could've been handled better than "just do what we did last year in reverse,"
That basketball format sounds good to me.
|
|
04-27-2017 12:56 PM |
|
FriscoDawg
Special Teams
Posts: 982
Joined: Nov 2003
Reputation: 46
I Root For: Louisiana Tech
Location:
|
RE: Travel costs in C-USA
(04-27-2017 12:56 PM)HarborPointe Wrote: (04-27-2017 01:08 AM)FriscoDawg Wrote: If whoever at the conference office is in charge of scheduling the football crossover games would pull their head out of wherever it has been stuck the last four years, they would realize that with 14 teams every team SHOULD play every other team in a 4-year period and home-and-home within 7 years. The same crossover games should not be played three years in a row which is exactly what we have in several cases this year. Too many teams will still have never played each other in five years after this season.
I don't disagree that 14 teams may be too many, but IMO under 12 is probably too few. With 12 teams in football, rivalries could actually be developed in crossover games as every team would play a full home-and-home against the other division every 4 years even playing only 8 conference games. And in basketball the conference schedule could be reduced to 16 games with 12 teams by playing home-and-home within the divisions and 3 home/3 road crossover games that would alternate every year. For those wanting to cut travel costs, that could mean up to 3 fewer basketball crossover road games per year.
The UAB situation may have thrown a wrench in the works with football scheduling. That said, it still could've been handled better than "just do what we did last year in reverse,"
That basketball format sounds good to me.
Since basketball doesn't actually play in divisions, it is much trickier.
With 14 teams the conference schedule almost has to be 18 games. But that means that most teams miss playing a full home-and-home with a pair of teams in its "division".
(This post was last modified: 05-01-2017 09:17 AM by FriscoDawg.)
|
|
05-01-2017 09:15 AM |
|
exowlswimmer
2nd String
Posts: 380
Joined: Feb 2006
Reputation: 9
I Root For: Rice
Location:
|
RE: Travel costs in C-USA
(04-26-2017 10:42 AM)ExcitedOwl18 Wrote: For football, every team charters and realistically, costs don't vary too much for the marginal 500 miles. This is especially true for teams that are in cities. Rice charters Southwest out of Hobby and they have plenty of aircraft flexibility there.
I know that for basketball, Rice will fly commercial to cities with direct service to Houston. However, if we're at @Marshall/WKU or at @USM/LA Tech, we most often charter a private jet.
I've heard horror stories from our non-revenue athletes about awful connecting routes just to get a better price, however.
Nothing wrong with a "bus" league when people care about your rivals. Flew twice in 4 years as an owl, once to Tulsa on Southwest on our way to Fayettville for a SWC invite meet then once to Mexico City for post Christmas training and a meet with the Mexican and Japanese national teams. Now we spend so much on travel that minor sports are eliminated as they "cost too much!"
|
|
05-01-2017 08:39 PM |
|
ExcitedOwl18
Heisman
Posts: 7,340
Joined: Dec 2013
Reputation: 68
I Root For: Rice
Location: Northern NJ
|
RE: Travel costs in C-USA
(05-01-2017 08:39 PM)exowlswimmer Wrote: (04-26-2017 10:42 AM)ExcitedOwl18 Wrote: For football, every team charters and realistically, costs don't vary too much for the marginal 500 miles. This is especially true for teams that are in cities. Rice charters Southwest out of Hobby and they have plenty of aircraft flexibility there.
I know that for basketball, Rice will fly commercial to cities with direct service to Houston. However, if we're at @Marshall/WKU or at @USM/LA Tech, we most often charter a private jet.
I've heard horror stories from our non-revenue athletes about awful connecting routes just to get a better price, however.
Nothing wrong with a "bus" league when people care about your rivals. Flew twice in 4 years as an owl, once to Tulsa on Southwest on our way to Fayettville for a SWC invite meet then once to Mexico City for post Christmas training and a meet with the Mexican and Japanese national teams. Now we spend so much on travel that minor sports are eliminated as they "cost too much!"
Trust me, I wasn't complaining when we bused an hour and a half to College Station. I'm sure the guys on the team this year won't mind busing ten minutes to UH!
|
|
05-01-2017 09:11 PM |
|