01grad wrote:Using your URI example, mapquest says it’s just under 30 minutes from the airport in Providence to their campus. That’s a quicker trip than Rogers Park to O’Hare on some days. And, honestly, it’s about the same time that it takes to get from the airport in Southern Illinois to SIU’s arena. We’ve supposedly been chartering flights to a handful of conference games for a few years now, so I’m not sure if the new travel will be as difficult a transition as it might first appear.m52 wrote:After listening to the MVC podcast about Loyola's departure, is the increase travel to some difficult destinations (i.e. still good drives from any nearby airport) like URI, UMass, St. Bonaventure, a major hindrance on the student-athletes in terms of time management? Traditionally athletic conferences were more geographically based so time issues on the students themselves was not major. I wonder....
URI would be the furthest school from Loyola but the trip is not all that difficult. Rhode Island TF Green Airport is an easy 25 minute ride from the campus with all of the route outside the urban core of the state which is centered around Providence. The airport is serviced by all the major commercial carriers with several daily non stops to Chicago. The train and driving are also fairly easy options as well if coming from other northeast A-10 schools. The Bos-Wash Amtrak corridor tracks run right along the campus with the Ryan Center arena visible from the train and a station in town just a mile away. The school is also located on Route 138 which has an on/off ramp 10 miles west to Route 95, probably the nation's most used interstate which runs from Maine to Florida connecting most of the east coast's major cities. The winter weather is not as bad as other northeast locales as the campus is in a coastal town just ten miles from the ocean and its moderating temperature effects. The annual snowfall in Kingston is 30 inches which is less than Chicago (37") and several other A-10 homes.
The worst commute in the conference is St Bonaventure. It is located in a small town in western NY which is a 1.5 hour drive with good conditions to the Buffalo airport. Several A-10 schools however choose to charter to a small airport in the much closer Bradford, PA. Winter weather can sometimes play into travel plans there as Olean, NY gets some 76 inches of annual snowfall, the most in the league.
UMass is located in the Connecticut River valley in western Massachusetts. The closest commercial airport is 45 minutes away at Bradley International in CT which is between Hartford, CT and Springfield, MA. Amherst, home to UMass, gets about 42 inches of annual snowfall as it is more inland with colder temperatures than coastal New England.