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Pro and college sports teams - how do they travel to games?

Pro and college sports teams - how do they travel to games?

Old Nov 9, 2007, 5:56 pm
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Pro and college sports teams - how do they travel to games?

Just a silly little question:

NBA, NFL, etc and big college teams, how do they get to where they need to for games? Commercial? Charter? Private?
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Old Nov 9, 2007, 5:58 pm
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When my brother played football for Florida in the 80s they did charters. Too many big bodies for commercial and too much hassle to go private.
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Old Nov 9, 2007, 7:57 pm
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Mostly charter. However, a few teams in each league own their own jets. The Dallas Mavericks have a private 757 for example as do the Heat.
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Old Nov 9, 2007, 7:59 pm
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Forgot to add that almost all of the WNBA and the MLS teams do fly commercial.
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Old Nov 9, 2007, 9:06 pm
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Charters on 727s... at least in LA
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Old Nov 9, 2007, 9:42 pm
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My son's division one lacrosse team travels commercial air. Go Bobcats!!!
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Old Nov 9, 2007, 9:45 pm
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The Nashville Predators (NHL) fly a chartered/converted-for-the-season Southwest 737 out of a specially designated gate at BNA.
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Old Nov 9, 2007, 9:47 pm
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The Dallas Stars/Texas Rangers share a newly redesigned 757.
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Old Nov 9, 2007, 9:56 pm
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Most of the pro teams either charter or fly on their own team plane. College? Who cares. College is about education, not sports IMO. Not to drag this too off-topic, but I personally am sick and tired about college athletes getting the big, special treatment.
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Old Nov 9, 2007, 11:05 pm
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Originally Posted by oneant
Most of the pro teams either charter or fly on their own team plane. College? Who cares. College is about education, not sports IMO. Not to drag this too off-topic, but I personally am sick and tired about college athletes getting the big, special treatment.
except one could argue that colleges get more in return for having these athletes, since they don't have to pay them anything.
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Old Nov 10, 2007, 1:07 am
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Originally Posted by gosha83
except one could argue that colleges get more in return for having these athletes, since they don't have to pay them anything.
One could argue that. You're right. They may not get an actual salary (like a pro athlete), but they get more than their fair share of special treatment...mainly due to the amount of $$ brought in by the sport.

For the most part, college athletes in the major sports (and I was one of them) are primadonnas and live high on the hog. I could give a rats a$$ if they traveled from game to game on a cargo plane filled with live goats. It all comes down to what the school can gain from having those athletes there. We're in a capitalist society. The premiere running back or quarterback with a 2.5 GPA is going to be far better compensated in school than the guy with a 3.9 that went to the same school and, one day, ends up being his boss.

The majority of the sportos end up in the business world...if they're lucky. The ones that didn't go pro, and had the silver spoon while in school, wind up working for a guy like me. The college pukes? F 'em.

Aside from their talent in school, they're just another guy with a resume.

So, when it comes to travel, the pros deserve the extra special treatment. We're all paying for it.

Last edited by oneant; Nov 10, 2007 at 1:16 am
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Old Nov 10, 2007, 4:07 am
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Some years ago, I boarded a EWR-DCA flight with my head down and noticed that the guy in the bulkhead was HUGE. It was John Thompson (Dad). As I looked up, all I saw down the aisle were legs. The Georgetown BB team was flying coach and nobody came close to fitting. I hope they've got appropriate charters by now.
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Old Nov 10, 2007, 6:43 am
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Originally Posted by oneant
One could argue that. You're right. They may not get an actual salary (like a pro athlete), but they get more than their fair share of special treatment...mainly due to the amount of $$ brought in by the sport.

For the most part, college athletes in the major sports (and I was one of them) are primadonnas and live high on the hog. I could give a rats a$$ if they traveled from game to game on a cargo plane filled with live goats. It all comes down to what the school can gain from having those athletes there. We're in a capitalist society. The premiere running back or quarterback with a 2.5 GPA is going to be far better compensated in school than the guy with a 3.9 that went to the same school and, one day, ends up being his boss.

The majority of the sportos end up in the business world...if they're lucky. The ones that didn't go pro, and had the silver spoon while in school, wind up working for a guy like me. The college pukes? F 'em.

Aside from their talent in school, they're just another guy with a resume.

So, when it comes to travel, the pros deserve the extra special treatment. We're all paying for it.
Pros deserve extra special treatment, but college athletes don't b/c they're "primadonnas?" Ummm...sorry. No question that college athletes get lots of special treatment, but if you want to meet some real primadonnas, introduce yourself to a pro athlete.
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Old Nov 10, 2007, 9:36 am
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Originally Posted by PDXUAFAN
Just a silly little question:

NBA, NFL, etc and big college teams, how do they get to where they need to for games? Commercial? Charter? Private?
I was on a Midwest flight where the jet looked like it must have been the charter jet for the Bucks. There was an assortment of seats, some rows were facing each other. My row had at least 5 feet of seat pitch. ^
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Old Nov 10, 2007, 4:13 pm
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We flew to SAN at Christmas in 2001, and the University of Texas football team was on our flight, or a sizable () portion thereof. Given the short time since Sept 11, being on a plane with a bunch of very large, fit, young men was kind of reassuring. Nobody was going to take over that flight!

It was a regular AA mad dog.
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