San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
VanDerveer wants traveling call
Cardinal coach believes more charter flights crucial to compete in the ACC
The key to maintaining a competitive women’s basketball program in the ACC might come down to how teams get to games.
In its four road games this season not in the Bay Area, the Stanford women’s basketball team has chartered for every single one, on pace with the men’s team, which has done the same.
Women’s basketball head coach Tara VanDerveer said for Stanford to remain as competitive as it has been in the Pac-12, it will need to fly charter to most or all of its East Coast competitions starting next season.
The financial challenges of the conference transition and balancing equitable and comfortable travel accommodations will come to a head in the next several months, but from a competition standpoint, VanDerveer believes chartering is essential.
“It’s very important,” she said. “It’s important in terms of time, you’re more well rested, it’s going to make a big difference, it’ll make a big difference in (the ACC) if we can do that.”
Since the pandemic, Stanford has ramped up its charter program as necessary. It’s unclear if the women’s team will charter for all its games the rest of this season — the Cardinal didn’t for every game last year — but since 2020, at least half of the squad’s trips included a charter flight.
Title IX compliance requires charters to be available equally for men’s and women’s programs, unless roster and staff size, such as in football, makes commercial travel impossible to manage. At Stanford, football charters for all road games and most men’s and women’s basketball games during the regular season. This year, though, the women’s team hasn’t gone east of Nevada, and the men’s team had just its Thanksgiving tournament in the Bahamas.
In the past five seasons, women’s basketball has gone east just twice, a stark contrast to what is to come in the ACC. This season, Stanford will travel a combined 4,581 miles to conference road games. ACC play, even with a more localized nonconference schedule, could add up to over 15,000 miles of traveling to games.
In the transition to the ACC, Stanford’s athletics department is aware it will need to make significant changes to its travel budget, whether that means chartering more flights or arranging other accommodations.
“I think some programs will have the opportunity to charter depending on the situation,” athletic director Bernard Muir told the Chronicle in November. “We are going to look at how we travel commercially and if we can provide opportunities for a little more leg room and certain classes if we can to make that happen. When we travel, we can have the day of acclimation once we get to the site.”
Muir recently said in an interview with the Chronicle that the university would be helping to cover some of the added expenses and budget shortfalls needed to make the transition to the ACC.
For smaller Olympic programs going to the ACC, though, travel accommodations might have to be made through donor support. Field hockey, which has already traveled cross-country to play in America East before the ACC switch, has historically flown commercially, though it plays significantly fewer games and does it before the academic year begins.
For programs such as volleyball, softball, baseball and basketball, not having that charter option could make joining a Stanford team a tougher sell, in addition to the already challenging perception around NIL and the transfer portal.
“I’m hoping we” charter in the ACC, she said. “We have done it this year, and that’s been great. I know that there’s going to be a very big commitment to all the sports going into the ACC and I would think that would be high on the list.”
UCLA and USC, joining the Big Ten next summer, plan on spending eight figures annually on accommodations that include new flight arrangements for the cross-country conference. They plan on potentially using charters even for Olympic sports teams, which they haven’t done often in the past.
Stanford’s Olympic programs historically haven’t chartered outside of NCAA postseason competition, either. For extended trips to the East, that may have to change, too.
“We’re also going to take advantage of being on the quarter system and schedule games prior to the school year or during breaks,” Muir said. “Let’s see if we can take full advantage of that. So those are the things we’re talking with the conference about and we’re seeing if we can make it come to fruition.”
Cal has chartered its football and men’s basketball programs and occasionally women’s basketball and women’s gymnastics, according to their travel documents obtained by the Chronicle in a public records request.
VanDerveer has previously mentioned possibly chartering alongside Cal or the Stanford men’s team, schedules permitting, but that hasn’t been solidified by both schools or the conference yet.
It just might determine how Stanford continues to legitimately vie for top-tier prospects.
“We are going to compete at the highest level and (the players) are excited about that,” VanDerveer said on Sept. 1 when the ACC voted to add Stanford, Cal and SMU as members. “Now, I said this, is there a thorn with a rose? Yes, travel is a thorn, but we’ll figure it out.”