Travel plans complicated by pandemic

Planning travel for college basketball teams can be complicated. Flights and hotels have to be booked, buses rented, meals planned. Schedules have to be worked around practices and games.

Planning amid the COVID-19 pandemic makes it exponentially more difficult.

Coaches and administrators have to consider ventilation systems, vendor testing protocols, shifting state requirements, airport policies, bus layouts and meal service options.

“You’re trying to balance logistics, but you also trying to balance a budget and health and safety in a pandemic,” Arkansas director of basketball operations Anthony Ruta said. “It’s not always easy.”

The NCAA set the college basketball start date forNov. 25. When the announcementwasmade in mid-September, coaches began scrambling to fill out schedules. With the start of the season 10 days away, someof those schedules still aren’t finalized.

Within that scramble was another, more complex one.

It’s one thing another to wade make itwork.

The pandemic has put a huge financial strain on athletic departments, sending manymillions of dollars in the red. Staying within a travel budget has become even more important.

The preferred method of pandemic travel would be to take a charter flight for the social distancing aspect, but smaller schools don’t have the finances to do that, even under regular circumstances.

Charter or commercial, there’s still plenty to worry about. Testing protocols at a variety of airports have to be identified ahead of time. Finding space to spread out in the terminal becomes a priority. There’s also concern about close contacts in the airport, from TSA personnel and gate agents to other passengers.

Even bus rides, the preferred mode of pandemic travel when possible, are fraught with concerns.

Coaches setting up travel have to ask about the filtration system, testing protocols foremployeesandthe interior layout to allow players and coaches to spread out. If the travel party gets too big, maybe a second bus will be required.

No longer is it just asking about bus types and setting up a schedule. Coaches need to know what questions to ask to keep their travel party safe and avoid surprises on the road.

“Nothing unforeseen, but just the different questions you’ve got to ask people,” Wisconsin director of basketball operations Marc VandeWettering said. “Where’s your bus driver been the last few weeks on the road? Who have they been driving? Have they been tested recently? What’s their protocol? I assume they’re going to be wearing masks the entire times, but what else are they doing to assure the safety of the team that they’re transporting?” Getting there can be half the battle. Finding hotels with the best pandemic protocolsbecomesa topconsideration with price and proximity. Figuring out room assignments and keeping social distance is part of the equation.

Meal planning is no longer merely deciding whether to go to a restaurant or have food brought to ameeting room at the hotel.

Coaches want to know the protocols for vendors bringing the food. Maybe they ask the vendors to serve the food so players and coaches aren’t sharing spoons. Perhaps they have the food prepared ahead of time so members of the travel party can take it back to their rooms.

The key is being flexible.

“We’ve been in the COVID period long enough where pretty much everything we do has had to be adjusted,” Marquette coach SteveWojciechowski said. to have through a schedule set, the minutiae to