http://saturdayblitz.com/2013/02/24/west-virginia-big-12-expansion-travel/
Bob Hertzel of The Exponent Telegram reports the West Virginia Mountaineers are seeking the Big 12′s assistance in solving travel problems for the the former. The move was one made for the benefit for Mountaineer football, but its impact on the other sports is at play in this decision.
Football did not present as much of a problem as basketball, with weekly trips and mostly weekend games, but, according to [athletic director Oliver] Luck, the league was agreeable to trying to arrange it so the Mountaineers do not have to travel on back-to-back weeks for conference games during the season....
Those that want Gonzaga in the C7, read this closely.
Those that think Creighton is a done deal, Google map the distance between Omaha and Providence.
I say screw'em, they should have thought twice before joining a conference with travel destinations in TX, OK, and Kansas...
Greed got you there, now choke on it...
It's the law of unintended consequences.
The athletic departments don't really care because they are cashing BIG $, so they will do little work-arounds (like WVU).
It's 45min. longer flight from Omaha to Providence than from Milwaukee to Providence.
45min. isn't a deal killer.
Plus, Creighton would have road games in Milwaukee, CHI, Cincy (prob.), Indy (prob.) and maybe Dayton. They wouldn't be going to the east coast for every game.
Quote from: AnotherMU84 on February 25, 2013, 11:13:06 AM
Those that want Gonzaga in the C7, read this closely.
Those that think Creighton is a done deal, Google map the distance between Omaha Milwaukee and Providence South Florida.
Seemed to work fine for us
Quote from: Victor McCormick on February 25, 2013, 11:21:19 AM
Seemed to work fine for us
Yeah, there a tons of examples of schools that travel or will travel similar disctances to Omaha/Providence.
Compute the cost of sending a 45 person Lacrosse team on a plane (x2 for Men and Women) and hotel rooms for a 1000 mile trip. It is just one cost without any revenue offset that quickly erodes the football income.
Quote from: Victor McCormick on February 25, 2013, 11:21:19 AM
Seemed to work fine for us
So why is West Virginia complaining?
Answer because
everyone in their conference is a haul. Yes USF is far away but it is offset but a bus ride to compete against DePaul and ND.
No one is close to Creighton and/or Gonzaga ... every away meet would be a plane ride in the C7. The travel costs would add up in a hurry.
Don't get me wrong, I would love to see Gonzaga and Creighton in the C7, but I see the logistical problems can be deal-killers.
Quote from: AnotherMU84 on February 25, 2013, 11:39:33 AM
So why is West Virginia complaining?
WVU is a completely different scenario than MU or Creighton. The problem (I'm assuming) is that everyone of WVU's games is far away. I think WVU and Gonzaga make complete sense to compare, but Creighton's potential travels in the new C7 league, seem to be very reasonable based on the current travel schedules and future realignment schedules.
Scoop discussed this when they jumped...the problem with WVU and the B12 is that Ames, IA is the nearest school to Morgantown...so all their away games involve really bad travel times to real hard to get to locations....vs. a Creighton as they can still have games in St. Louis, Milwaukee, Chicago or other big cities while easily knocking off two away games in a weekend with a short bus/plane trip with a travel partner school. For example, PC with SJU, Hall with Nova, Gtown with Richmond/VCU, MU and DePaul, Creighton and StL., Xavier and Butler (or Dayton).
Quote from: AnotherMU84 on February 25, 2013, 11:39:33 AM
So why is West Virginia complaining?
Because it's not the occasional long trip, it's the constant back and forth.
Creighton (in the new C7 conf.) wouldn't have constant trips to the east coast.
WVU is constantly traveling to TX/OK/KS/IA.
Creighton would have more local trips like Chicago, Milwaukee, Indy, and Cincy, which would make it more reasonable.
Quote from: Dr. Blackheart on February 25, 2013, 11:44:49 AM
Scoop discussed this when they jumped...the problem with WVU and the B12 is that Ames, IA is the nearest school to Morgantown...so all their away games involve really bad travel times to real hard to get to locations....vs. a Creighton as they can still have games in St. Louis, Milwaukee, Chicago or other big cities while easily knocking off two away games in a weekend with a short bus/plane trip with a travel partner school. For example, PC with SJU, Hall with Nova, Gtown with Richmond/VCU, MU and DePaul, Creighton and StL., Xavier and Butler (or Dayton).
+1. The WVU (and hypothetical Gonzaga) model is a single geographic outlier. Which is USF as well. Doesn't apply if you're not required to make a long trip for every road event. Omaha to Providence is a hike, Omaga to St. Louis, Milwaukee, Chicago, Indianapolis, Cincinnati much less so.
Quote from: WarhawkWarrior on February 25, 2013, 11:36:09 AM
Compute the cost of sending a 45 person Lacrosse team on a plane (x2 for Men and Women) and hotel rooms for a 1000 mile trip. It is just one cost without any revenue offset that quickly erodes the football income.
It would eventually offset hoops revenue, but football revenue is ungodly right now.
HOWEVER, there is no guarantee that football revenue will always be this high, so in theory, the conferences could shrink in the future.
Quote from: WarhawkWarrior on February 25, 2013, 11:36:09 AM
Compute the cost of sending a 45 person Lacrosse team on a plane (x2 for Men and Women) and hotel rooms for a 1000 mile trip. It is just one cost without any revenue offset that quickly erodes the football income.
That's
IF Lacrosse is part of the new conference - which from what I heard many people do not want it to be.
This is exactly why Gonzaga won't be coming. It's just too difficult to travel from a small market. If they were in Seattle, it might be more realistic, but even then those are some unbearable flights. Their closest trip in the Big East would be further than their closest trip now, and their sports already log some significant miles to San Diego. It's a great idea from a TV perspective, but this isn't the NBA. SAs have other concerns than just getting to games and playing. Gonzaga would be a logistical nightmare. They'd be better off pursuing a spot in the MWC if they want out of the WCC that bad.
West Virginia didn't think if this ahead of time?
Screw them.
This is also worse for the Big 12 because a lot of their schools are in smaller out-of-the-way towns, making travel on commmercial flights much more difficult. Most of the B7 teams are in major cities with commercial airports. Then when you consider WVU is the outlier far from everyone else, WVU is really the worst-case scenario for this problem.
Gonzaga would be worse, but it wouldn't be this bad for Creighton.
Quote from: Guns n Ammo on February 25, 2013, 11:20:12 AM
It's the law of unintended consequences.
The athletic departments don't really care because they are cashing BIG $, so they will do little work-arounds (like WVU).
It's 45min. longer flight from Omaha to Providence than from Milwaukee to Providence.
45min. isn't a deal killer.
Plus, Creighton would have road games in Milwaukee, CHI, Cincy (prob.), Indy (prob.) and maybe Dayton. They wouldn't be going to the east coast for every game.
Quote from: Dr. Blackheart on February 25, 2013, 11:44:49 AM
Scoop discussed this when they jumped...the problem with WVU and the B12 is that Ames, IA is the nearest school to Morgantown...so all their away games involve really bad travel times to real hard to get to locations....vs. a Creighton as they can still have games in St. Louis, Milwaukee, Chicago or other big cities while easily knocking off two away games in a weekend with a short bus/plane trip with a travel partner school. For example, PC with SJU, Hall with Nova, Gtown with Richmond/VCU, MU and DePaul, Creighton and StL., Xavier and Butler (or Dayton).
Come on guys, I can't keep fixing this for you.
Quote from: TallTitan34 on February 25, 2013, 12:02:32 PM
West Virginia didn't think if this ahead of time?
Screw them.
It's hard for some people. Especially in West Virginia.
Quote from: Guns n Ammo on February 25, 2013, 11:46:05 AM
Because it's not the occasional long trip, it's the constant back and forth.
Creighton (in the new C7 conf.) wouldn't have constant trips to the east coast.
WVU is constantly traveling to TX/OK/KS/IA.
Creighton would have more local trips like Chicago, Milwaukee, Indy, and Cincy, which would make it more reasonable.
Yup, that's why when I put on my former athletic administrator hat and I can't for the life of me understand why Gonzaga would want to do this not only to their other sports, but even basketball. They will wear their players down, it will impact other things like school, and ultimately they will lose games as a result. Yeah, it's more money for them but at what cost?
Quote from: ChicosBailBonds on February 25, 2013, 01:25:57 PM
Yup, that's why when I put on my former athletic administrator hat and I can't for the life of me understand why Gonzaga would want to do this not only to their other sports, but even basketball. They will wear their players down, it will impact other things like school, and ultimately they will lose games as a result. Yeah, it's more money for them but at what cost?
Honestly, it's all about the $.
If (insert conference) thought they could make more money playing on the moon, they would do it. Then, they would package it as some sort of benefit to the student athlete. "They get to go to the moon!"
If Gonzaga thinks it can make significantly more money playing in the C7, they will do it. The only variable is the word "significant". It means different things to different people.
Quote from: Litehouse on February 25, 2013, 12:07:25 PM
This is also worse for the Big 12 because a lot of their schools are in smaller out-of-the-way towns, making travel on commmercial flights much more difficult. Most of the B7 teams are in major cities with commercial airports. Then when you consider WVU is the outlier far from everyone else, WVU is really the worst-case scenario for this problem.
Gonzaga would be worse, but it wouldn't be this bad for Creighton.
Great point. Just out of curiosity I checked on Orbitz for a Thrusday flight out of Morgantown, WV to Lubbock, TX with a return on Saturday, assuming a Friday night game. Fastest travel there was 7 hours with two stops, fastest return trip was 18 hours and three stops.
West Virginia is not regretting making this move one bit. They are still in a better situation than they were with the Big East.
West Virginia is closer to its nearest conference member than USF is theirs. Miami was even further away when they were in the Big East. They just want a more friendly schedule. (ie, instead of sending the volleyball team to Kansas one week...and Kansas State 10 days later...schedule them a couple days apart.)
Quote from: The Sultan of South Wayne on February 25, 2013, 03:49:34 PM
West Virginia is not regretting making this move one bit. They are still in a better situation than they were with the Big East.
West Virginia is closer to its nearest conference member than USF is theirs. Miami was even further away when they were in the Big East. They just want a more friendly schedule. (ie, instead of sending the volleyball team to Kansas one week...and Kansas State 10 days later...schedule them a couple days apart.)
That's one way of looking at it.
Another is that had West Virginia just had a little patience, they'd had Louisville's spot in the ACC right now. Of course, that's my 20/20 hindsight at work, but still ...
Yeah, but they didn't know that Maryland was leaving the ACC - that was over a year later. And the ACC could have taken Louisville anyway. There isn't a lot of WVU love in the ACC. If they would have turned that down, they get roasted across the board.
Quote from: eroc830 on February 25, 2013, 03:32:30 PM
Great point. Just out of curiosity I checked on Orbitz for a Thrusday flight out of Morgantown, WV to Lubbock, TX with a return on Saturday, assuming a Friday night game. Fastest travel there was 7 hours with two stops, fastest return trip was 18 hours and three stops.
I wouldn't be surprised if WVU does a lot of their flying out of Pittsburgh
Quote from: Guns n Ammo on February 25, 2013, 01:35:18 PM
Honestly, it's all about the $.
If (insert conference) thought they could make more money playing on the moon, they would do it. Then, they would package it as some sort of benefit to the student athlete. "They get to go to the moon!"
If Gonzaga thinks it can make significantly more money playing in the C7, they will do it. The only variable is the word "significant". It means different things to different people.
Agreed, the definition is key. Of course you also have to have another partner....a conference willing to take you.
Quote from: PTM on February 25, 2013, 12:07:40 PM
Come on guys, I can't keep fixing this for you.
Is there a way to set up the filter so that every time D****n is posted a small picture of a Cavalier is displayed instead?