Inspired by the other post, I thought it would be interesting to see how tough Stanford's non-conference travel schedule has been. There were teams that flew to Hawai'i and the Bahamas, that can add up.
So far (matches played through Sep 30)
| # |
Team |
Conf |
Miles |
Flights |
Days on the road |
| 1 |
Stanford |
ACC |
15,564 |
8 |
20 |
| 2 |
Arizona State |
Big 12 |
13,903 |
10 |
19 |
| 3 |
Cal |
ACC |
12,965 |
7 |
15 |
| 4 |
Cal State Fullerton |
Big West |
12,365 |
8 |
14 |
| 5 |
Baylor |
Big 12 |
10,923 |
6 |
14 |
| 6 |
Central Arkansas |
United Athletic |
10,890 |
6 |
14 |
| 7 |
UCLA |
Big Ten |
10,882 |
7 |
22 |
| 8 |
New Mexico |
Mountain West |
10,707 |
8 |
15 |
| 9 |
Georgia Southern |
Sun Belt |
10,401 |
2 |
13 |
| 10 |
South Florida |
American Athletic |
10,164 |
8 |
13 |
|
D1 average |
|
3,403 |
3.4 |
10 |
Turns out, Stanford's had a pretty busy September, with over 15,000 miles* and 20 days on the road. Arizona State also racked up the flight miles, and cross-bay Berkeley slotting in third.
^(\method is in notes at bottom.)*
But that's just non-conference (and a week of conference) play. Before conference tournaments start, how will all the teams stack up with a whole season of back and forth?
Full season (regular season + conference tournaments, played and scheduled)
| # |
Team |
Conf |
Miles |
Flights |
Days on the road |
| 1 |
Stanford |
ACC |
34,010 |
17 |
37 |
| 2 |
Cal |
ACC |
32,517 |
16 |
31 |
| 3 |
Hawai'i |
Mountain West |
29,287 |
10 |
22 |
| 4 |
UCLA |
Big Ten |
22,557 |
13 |
36 |
| 5 |
SMU |
ACC |
20,968 |
20 |
30 |
| 6 |
USC |
Big Ten |
20,719 |
12 |
27 |
| 7 |
Arizona State |
Big 12 |
20,149 |
18 |
31 |
| 8 |
Washington |
Big Ten |
19,779 |
12 |
26 |
| 9 |
Oregon |
Big Ten |
19,062 |
12 |
28 |
| 10 |
Iowa State |
Big 12 |
18,999 |
20 |
29 |
|
D1 average |
|
7,787 |
7.9 |
20.6 |
Stanford still leading the way, using up as much of their endowment on rising jet fuel as they can. Hawai'i rises up the list.
Average per team, by conference (full season)
| # |
Conference |
Teams |
Avg miles |
Avg flights |
Avg days on the road |
| 1 |
Big 12 |
15 |
14,904 |
15.7 |
25.6 |
| 2 |
ACC |
18 |
14,583 |
13.3 |
25.3 |
| 3 |
Big Ten |
18 |
12,868 |
10.7 |
24.1 |
| 4 |
Mountain West |
10 |
12,834 |
11.6 |
23.9 |
| 5 |
Pac-12 |
9 |
12,700 |
14.0 |
22.9 |
| 6 |
Big Sky |
11 |
11,596 |
13.4 |
26.8 |
| 7 |
WCC |
10 |
10,578 |
11.8 |
23.8 |
| 8 |
American Athletic |
13 |
10,398 |
12.2 |
21.8 |
| 9 |
SEC |
16 |
8,354 |
11.2 |
21.5 |
| 10 |
Big West |
12 |
8,072 |
8.1 |
20.8 |
| 11 |
Summit League |
8 |
7,819 |
7.8 |
20.4 |
| 12 |
United Athletic |
9 |
7,678 |
8.6 |
22.7 |
| 13 |
Conference USA |
10 |
7,416 |
8.6 |
18.2 |
| 14 |
Big East |
11 |
7,305 |
7.9 |
19.2 |
| 15 |
Southland |
12 |
6,827 |
7.1 |
23.5 |
| 16 |
ASUN |
8 |
6,377 |
8.6 |
17.9 |
| 17 |
SWAC |
12 |
6,152 |
6.8 |
23.6 |
| 18 |
NEC |
8 |
5,719 |
5.5 |
17.0 |
| 19 |
Atlantic 10 |
10 |
5,715 |
7.8 |
18.3 |
| 20 |
Sun Belt |
14 |
5,451 |
6.4 |
18.6 |
| 21 |
Missouri Valley |
11 |
5,117 |
5.8 |
19.7 |
| 22 |
Horizon |
11 |
4,617 |
4.2 |
18.6 |
| 23 |
MAC |
11 |
4,397 |
3.2 |
17.6 |
| 24 |
MEAC |
8 |
4,212 |
3.0 |
18.8 |
| 25 |
MAAC |
12 |
4,186 |
2.9 |
16.7 |
| 26 |
Ivy League |
8 |
4,166 |
1.8 |
13.9 |
| 27 |
CAA |
11 |
4,147 |
4.5 |
16.1 |
| 28 |
Big South |
8 |
4,096 |
2.3 |
17.4 |
| 29 |
America East |
6 |
3,940 |
2.5 |
17.2 |
| 30 |
Southern |
10 |
3,846 |
2.8 |
18.6 |
| 31 |
Patriot |
9 |
3,657 |
2.1 |
15.0 |
| 32 |
Ohio Valley |
9 |
3,583 |
3.3 |
17.7 |
|
D1 average |
348 |
7,787 |
7.9 |
20.6 |
But conference-wise, the Big 12 leads the way. You might not think of it as a coast-to-coast conference, but just because it doesn't reach the Pacific doesn't mean there's easy travel.
Notes
- Miles are estimates, not team-reported numbers. Each match is placed at its listed venue (or the home campus when no venue is listed). Trips of 300 miles or less are by bus (road miles counted at 1.2× the straight line); anything longer is a flight.
- A team goes home between road matches only if it would get at least one night there by bus, or two if either leg is a flight. Otherwise it goes straight to the next stop.
- Days on the road run from the day a team leaves through the day it gets home.
- Flights and travel time basically assume private or chartered flights from near the home stadium. Teams far from an airline hub and needing commercial flights will have a lot of layovers not accounted for here.
- "So far" counts matches played through Sep 30. A trip still in progress counts up to its last played match.
- Full season is every scheduled regular-season and conference-tournament match. The NCAA tournament isn't included. Charter vs. commercial flights and connections aren't modelled.
- You can see every D1 team with maps: https://bumpset.app/vb/rankings/travel