How Do College Football Teams Travel For Games Across The Country?

The advent of air travel was a game changer for the world of college sports, allowing teams from all across the United States to face off on turf that was often 2,000 miles away from their home field. When it comes to college football, this is not a common occurrence, with teams frequently criss-crossing the continent to play in dramatic showdowns as a part of intense rivalries with millions of fans following every moment. Besides moving the dozens of players, staff and support groups, there’s also lots of equipment that’s both bulky and heavy to transport. So the question is, how do these big teams with their entourage and gear make it to games all over the United States for kick-off every time? The answer is a lot of dedicated planning and select airplanes that bring it all together to ensure America’s favorite game is always on time.
The travel strategy that goes into transporting whole college football teams is a hybrid of planning that demands equal knowledge of sports, logistics, and aviation. Athletic programs’ operations teams have to navigate complex travel demands to ensure their team reaches its destination ready to compete. Good travel planning requires the coordination of players, gear handlers, team stakeholders, airline staff and airport management together with the team managers and athletic directors; all of whom contribute to creating a seamless experience for players and staff – not to mention the fans too.
Photo: University of Alabama Athletics | Facebook
In a historical story, FootballArcheaology.com wrote: “A handful of military football teams from aviation training centers flew to games during WWI and the 1920s. Still, the University of New Mexico was the first college team to fly to a game when they boarded two Transcontinental Air Transport (the forerunner of TWA) planes for Los Angeles on October 10, 1929.”
In the late 1950s, Admiral Tom Hamilton had a grand vision for what became popularly known as the “Airplane Conference,” a 12-team outfit that would have brought together five schools from the west coast with six others from the east, with Air Force in the middle for an even dozen. This league ultimately didn’t become a reality, but its another interesting case that illustrates how aviation has been an integral part of the growth of football as a sport, connecting all of the best college teams from across the vast expanse of America’s 50 states.
A look into how these operations come together reveals other implications for the aviation industry, illustrating the challenges in coordinating large-scale group travel and how they can be solved with efficiency and professionalism. Insights shed light on how similar logistical solutions are applied to other industries that rely on the same kind of coordination to get their travelers from point to point. See how the pros of college football and US airlines use teamwork, great aircraft, and modern technology to serve a uniquely American sports tradition and how it extends beyond the sports world to influence the aviation community.
When it comes to moving a team with a tight schedule and important deadlines, efficiency is everything. It’s crucial to maintain an edge in the extremely competitive world of college football. One part of that is to get players to the field on time with a travel experience that isn’t so draining that it hurts their performance on the field.
Photo: University of Alabama Athletics | Facebook
As one of America’s most beloved (sometimes fanatically) sports the commitments by schools, players and fans are all very serious in the world of collegiate athletics. Meeting the expectations of the diehard legions of fans, as well as the exacting demands of top performing athletes is a serious source of pressure for any air carrier. Every year, many charter and commercial air services work feverishly to meet the logistical challenges of moving players, coaches, and their equipment across the country. However, some especially hard-pressed and high-performing teams choose to invest in tailored solutions, including privately owned aircraft, to minimize delays and maximize flexibility.
As one report comments: “Conference realignment has tested and made a mockery of the limits of geography. Lines that were once drawn around proximity to campus and in the supposed best interest of student athletes have rapidly warped and been redrawn around media markets and potential revenue. The primary power brokers of the sport — the ACC, Big 12, Big Ten, Pac-12 and SEC — each hold billion-dollar TV rights contracts, and the addition of new member schools reopen those already lucrative agreements.”
Travel operations for college football teams are a fast paced, high stakes, collaborative effort that requires near perfect execution from athletic departments, charter operators, and other transportation providers depending on the final destination. And they have to do it almost every other weekend for a little over half the calendar year, every year.
Photo: University of Alabama Athletics | Facebook
For Samantha Diamond, associate director of football administration at Baylor University, the goal is that