To get ready for their move to a bicoastal conference, the programs had to revamp their travel schedules and much more.
Both the Cal and Stanford equipment trucks will now depart their respective campuses on Mondays for a Saturday kickoff to be able to make the cross-country trek with enough time to set up the sideline and locker room. was at breakfast at the team hotel in Hawai'i, hours before the kickoff to the 2023 season, when he learned the ACC had officially voted to accept the Cardinal, Cal and SMU as new league members.
Think Google Maps to calculate the best route for equipment trucks to drive from Palo Alto, California, to Syracuse, New York. Think charter flight costs, consulting sleep experts, revisiting how and when to leave for trips, scouting new teams and trying to minimize missed classroom time. The long return trip home means the trucks will not return to California until Tuesday or Wednesday. So game gear -- including uniforms, coach and staff laundry, will have to be packed on the airplane to be cleaned and ready for the following week. Exercise bikes, coolers, some medical equipment, rain gear and cooling fans stay on the trucks.
In all, the schools will combine to travel more than 44,000 miles this season. Given all the added travel, Doyle estimates Stanford's charter budget has doubled. It will be even higher in 2025 with an additional charter flight: The Cardinal have games at Hawaii, Miami, North Carolina, Virginia and SMU. Doyle said that next season, Stanford will have to cover the third-longest distance of any college football season ever.
The move to add those two programs, as well as SMU, was seen as a way to stabilize the conference moving forward, a notion that was further crystallized after Florida State and Clemson filed suit against the league, challenging its grant of rights and withdrawal penalties. The work of putting together schedules began almost immediately afterward, and the ACC prioritized limiting cross-country travel as much as possible. In sports outside football, the scheduling model was made specifically to feature multiple games in the same region over a three- or four-day period. For example, Stanford women's soccer is scheduled to play Wake Forest and NC State on one trip in September.says he is not concerned with the extra travel for the football program.
"We're further away. There are longer flights," Wilcox said."There's no denying that, but at the end of the day, we don't think it's that big of a deal. We're not talking about that after the game because we missed a tackle. That's not coming up. This is not going to be a thing for us." "We very much view it as an investment," Hart said."We didn't really give anything up relative to what we had or what we were going to have. We felt confident that from a competitive perspective and a resource perspective, we could make up for it, which is mostly what that fundraising effort is directed toward."
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
ACC Officially Welcomes Cal, SMU, Stanford | What It Means For VirginiaBreaking down some of the short-term and long-term effects that Cal, SMU, and Stanford joining the ACC has on UVA athletics.
Read more »
SMU gets high regular-season win total from national websiteExpectations continuing to rise nationally heading into first season in the ACC.
Read more »
‘Back where we belong’: SMU joins the ACCSMU president marks the milestone of SMU joining the ACC July 1. The new conference will not just contribute to great athletics but also open academic...
Read more »
SMU enjoys happiest hour, receives warm welcome to ACCMonday’s welcome party in Dallas reflected the years-long legwork it took for SMU to reach this upper echelon.
Read more »
Two City Section football players with Nigerian roots commit to SMULinebacker Mark Iheanachor of Narbonne and defensive end Chinedu Onyeagoro of King/Drew commit to Southern Methodist University.
Read more »
Johnson HS quarterback leaving for IMG Academy decommits from TCU, commits to SMUA former Johnson High School quarterback who is transferring to IMG Academy in Florida has decommited from TCU and will instead commit to rival SMU, according to media reports.
Read more »