(08-05-2017 01:01 PM)_C2_ Wrote: (08-05-2017 12:48 PM)billings Wrote: (08-05-2017 12:45 PM)_C2_ Wrote: Seems like a good fit imo. The Big Sky doesn't exactly have a tight footprint like the Big West, so why not go outside the lower 48? That's exactly what the Big West does anyways by going to Hawai'i.
Hawaii pays travel subs to pay the cost of travel to the island for big west members. Doubt alaska FB would do that.
They don't play football. Anyways, it's not a major stretch. Is Montana all that much further from Northern Arizona as they are from Alaska? If so, then it is not by much I'd think.
Have you ever considered using google? Distances in the west are much greater than you seem to realize.
It's a 1,000 mile, 15 hour drive from Missoula to Flagstaff
It's a 2,450 mile, 45 hour drive from Missoula to Anchorage
I feel for the equipment truck driver.
Charter flights are about 850 miles to Flagstaff (~2 hrs, 15 min), 1,750 miles to Anchorage (~4 hrs, 40 min). So cost in fuel, crew time, and travel time about double. Round trip you'll spend over 9 hours or more in the air. Pretty expensive even before considering weather issues of Alaska Basketball in January and February.
Montana is almost the best case for UAA. Consider is the travel costs for even farther away Sac State, SUU, NAU, and NoCo. The travel subsidy the Big Sky would likely demand would certainly be more than Hawaii pays the Big West.