GUWonder

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...126494236.html

The entire story is interesting for those not aware of how a growing number of big time sports teams increasingly travel.

There is an aspect of the story that indicates how some teams wanted to avoid the TSA and instead have been granted TSA-approved private contractor screening privileges so the contracted screeners can do the passenger screening at places far from an airport -- that's done in large part in order to avoid scenes at TSA screening checkpoints. I bet they avoid more than just the scenes at airports this way -- they probably avoid some of the infamous inconsistency and some other TSA antics that do nothing for security.

Yaatri

Are potatoes smashed before or after they are boiled? on the ground or in air?
Is every potato(e) smashed individually?
Is that you Mr Vice President?

slawecki

price does not sound right. rams have about 60 players on active and inactive roster. 15 or so coaches, and another 15-50 hangerson. anything under $2000 sounds way too cheap. basket ball team hauls maybe 30-40, so that sounds right.

kkjay77

Don't many of the teams have their own jets?
Also, it's actually quite surprising that not many teams in the US have teamed up with airlines like they do in EU as the team's official carrier.
For example, Manchester United has such a deal with TK and Real Madrid has partnership with EK.
Instead of spending money on charters, it would be a better to do such a deal.

Yaatri

That's a more a form of advertising than any thing else, I think. Airlines with money pay for these sponsorships. In the U.S. an airline is more likely to be a sponsor of an event than a team.

benzemalyonnais

I don't think that Man United could possibly use TK for all of it's flights.....unless they're granted a private plane to use...since IST connections would prove to be inconvenient for 99% of their matches.

I have seen the ADs on TV though

djp98374

For pro football teams it's relatively easy to do because it is an infrequent. With scheduling if say delta has all the nfl teams then they dnt need that many planes to do this. At most 16 planes.

For college they can use any jet in their fleet where they dont reconfigure it. for many of the colleges the flights are short. In the big 10 the flights are about an hr. for example say Ohio stste is playing at Iowa. They take a jet and serve Columbus from Atlanta then they become chartered and fly the team from Columbus to Cedar rapids then delta goes back into regular service routing.

For hockey teams this gets more complicated. There were issues A few years ago where some teams who do contract charters for their road trips ran into problems because of US FAA regulations with between two us city flights without returning to Canada . This wasn't just with Canadian teams but also with us teams who use Canadian chartered aircraft ( Detroit, buffalo ).
http://bjtonline.com/business-jet-news/cabotage-caveats

The teams also may use multiple different charters depending on their road trip. A team for a one night road trip may use charter A for this short hr flight but when they go On awestruck coast trip nce or twice a year they contract with delta who has longer haul aircraft for Cross country flights.

When buffalo travels up to Toronto to play a hockey game they bus it.

The people on these flights besides the team are the local tv/radio/newspaper press covering the game and the tv and radio broadcasting crew.

A similar concept is when airlines substitute traditional aircraft for larger passenger load aircraft. I recall a few times being on such a flight. Once it was from Nashville. I was flying back from my brothers on an am flight. That tme there was a bowl game so the carrier substituted the larger plane either for the team coming in or fans coming in.

Some teams use alternate airfields to avoid the crowds and traffic. If they don't use secondary airports, they use major local imports but instead use a general/private aviation area.


This is an article a few years go on how the pro teams handle travel...most of it on the hotel end of things.

http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/trave...e_x.htm?csp=34

sunshine-state

I don't think many teams have their own jets. In know that USAirways have several special liveries (Steelers, Eagles, Panthers, etc) but those are all because the cities are hubs for the airline (PIT, PHL, CLT). I've flown on all 3 of those, and unfortunately no halibut or 7 ft beds to be found. I think WN has an Orlando Magic livery.

Just pull up Flightaware for a city on Saturdays/Sundays to see a charter (probably 752 or 763) flying into a city where a home NFL game is being played, or a major conference college football game on Fridays/Saturdays. Here's Boston College flying down to play Wake Forest tomorrow, or here's Pitt flying to Notre Dame.