The NCAA on Feb. 24 sent a memo to its Div. I schools “cautioning against the possibility” that the upcoming men’s and women’s basketball tournaments could “see some travel struggles due to myriad factors in play” across the U.S., according to Matt Norlander of CBSSPORTS.com. In a statement the NCAA said, “Nationwide, significantly fewer charter aircraft are available due to several factors outside of NCAA control.” A contributing factor to the potential travel stress is the “ongoing partial government shutdown and operational aviation issues for large private aircraft,” which have emerged as a result of the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement “collaborating to use private airplanes to deport immigrants at the behest of President Donald Trump.” The NCAA pays for private aircrafts for all NCAA Tournament games “for teams more than 400 miles away from their first-weekend sites.” Schools also have the “option to procure (but pay for) private air travel on their own behalf.” Schools have until this Friday to “send in their detailed manifests for their travel parties, lest they incur fines for being late.” The NCAA has been “discussing for years” whether to expand its basketball tournaments. Sources previously said that the “taxing logistical concerns about assuring and procuring private air travel” for as many as 16 more teams for the opening games of the tournaments has been a “contributing factor against the idea of tournament expansion” (CBSSPORTS.com, 3/2).
HURDLES ON THE TRACK: THE ATHLETIC’s Ralph Russo noted the NCAA “cited the busy spring-break travel season, possible TSA-related delays due to a partial government shutdown and a significant decrease in available charter flights nationwide” as potential logistical hurdles for schools. It was reported last year that “a company commonly used by colleges and professional sports teams had also operated more than half of ICE deportation flights.” Per the memo, NCAA tournament travel is “made through an Iowa-based company called Short’s Travel Management” (THE ATHLETIC, 3/2).
