PITTSBURGH (AP) — Atlantic 10 commissioner Bernadette McGlade skimmed through the 12-page memo the NCAA sent out last month that highlighted potential travel issues ahead of the men's and women's basketball tournaments and couldn't help but feel a bit of deja vu.
McGlade spent time on both the men's and women's selection committees earlier in her career, including a stint as the tournament director for women's March Madness. What she read in that memo
was nothing new.
“We had the same conversations, ‘Oh, these charters are hired (away). We might not be able to travel all the teams the way we want to travel,’” McGlade said Friday ahead of the A-10 quarterfinals at PPG Paints Arena. “It is a very real reality.”
One that, through the years, has avoided any sort of real nightmare scenario. The NCAA is hoping to do the same this time around, even if the headwinds working against them might be a little stronger than they've been in the past.
The ongoing partial government shutdown that is forcing some federal airport employees to work without getting paid — leading to massive lines at security checkpoints in some places — the conflict in the Middle East that is spiking energy prices and the typical uptick in demand when the weather gets warmer are a potential tinderbox that could make the Madness in March Madness bleed into new territory.
“We certainly understand that there are pressures on the system, but we hope they’re not going to be too disruptive and really impact people’s experiences. We’ll do everything we can to mitigate that,” men's committee chair Keith Gill said Wednesday. “One of the things that I’ve heard is ICE is taking up a lot of charter planes. I think the charter market is just demonstrably different than it has been.”
The number of deportation flights carried out by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement have hit record highs during President Donald Trump's second administration and while it wasn't an issue last March, it might be now.
The NCAA is trying to take a “business as usual” approach, stressing this week it will not let outside factors play a role in determining the seeding but added that priority will be given to teams that have success in their respective conference tournaments.
With host sites for the opening weekend stretching from Buffalo to San Diego in the men's bracket, the math could still get a little complicated. (The on-campus sites for the women's field won't be determined until the bracket is released on Sunday).
The NCAA has specific parameters on how teams get to their venues. Any team that has to travel at least 400 miles during the opening weekend is eligible to take a flight chartered by the NCAA. That drops to 350 miles for the regional finals and the Final Four.
Schools that are closer than those parameters can receive up to $1,500 per day for ground transportation.
Teams from one-bid leagues that figure to be lower seeds may have to bear more of a travel burden than higher seeds, who can sometimes — but not always — play much closer to home.
Wright State athletic director Joylynn Brown said the travel logistics are “something to think about” but added that it isn't top of mind. The Raiders, who won the Horizon League title this week, play a few miles from downtown Dayton, Ohio, where the men's tournament will get underway on Tuesday night.
“If you drive, it is a little bit easier,” Brown said. “It is exciting to fly. I don’t really care where we’re going, I’m just excited that we’re going and I’m thankful, I hope that and I think that the NCAA was proactive on getting that travel set up. So, hopefully, everything will go really, really smoothly.”
The visibility that the tournaments provide, particularly for lesser-known schools, is so great that they'd probably walk to get where they need to go if it came down to it. If they hop on a plane, even if they have to wait? Great. If they sit on a bus for a while? Great.
“I think without hesitation, that every institution wants to see their name go up on the board on Selection Sunday,” McGlade said, later adding, "the value long-term for programs and institutions in terms of enrollment, fundraising, etc., of being selected into March Madness is so significant right now that I know there’s not anyone in the A-10 concerned about that.”
That might change once the dream of reaching the tournament becomes reality, which can lead to a frantic 24-72 hours for schools as they scatter across the country in hopes of an extended stay in the dance. Any delays that may pop up are basically college basketball's version of a first-world problem.
“It’s different all of a sudden now when the teams get in you (might) start to hear some people complaining,” McGlade said. “But I don’t think there’s a hesitation (to be a part of it.).”
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AP Sports Writer Mike Marot in Indianapolis and AP Airlines & Consumer Travel Reporter Rio Yamat contributed to this report.
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