OT- Booking Flights at the last minute.

[Twincitiesmav]

[West Florida]

I ran into the same. I thought flights would be expensive this time of year, but I was surprised by how expensive.

[Twincitiesmav]

I ran into the same. I thought flights would be expensive this time of year, but I was surprised by how expensive.

Did you end up going in 2017?

[CHIP72]

I ironically flew Spirit to the Twin Cities back in October (flew Delta coming back); it was the first time I'd flown on Spirit, and I was a little concerned using the airline but decided to take a chance. Spirit is an ultra-low cost carrier, meaning they charge for carry on luggage, serve no snacks, and if you don't reserve a specific seat for a little additional cost, you may end up with a middle seat. I sat in one of the bigger seats in the first couple of rows (I'm 6'2", so I need the leg room), and had no problems. I definitely would recommend paying a little extra and reserving a bigger seat or aisle seat if you a big or tall person. You could also save some money flight-wise if you return on Monday rather than Sunday, though I'm unsure if they would offset the additional hotel cost.

Keep in mind that you also have Dallas Love Field as an option in addition to Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. Love Field is closer to Dallas than DFW Airport, which is a bit of an advantage when traveling to the north Dallas suburbs where McKinney is located. Most Southwest Airlines flights to/from the DFW area serve Love Field.

[Twincitiesmav]

I ironically flew Spirit to the Twin Cities back in October (flew Delta coming back); it was the first time I'd flown on Spirit, and I was a little concerned using the airline but decided to take a chance. Spirit is an ultra-low cost carrier, meaning they charge for carry on luggage, serve no snacks, and if you don't reserve a specific seat for a little additional cost, you may end up with a middle seat. I sat in one of the bigger seats in the first couple of rows (I'm 6'2", so I need the leg room), and had no problems. I definitely would recommend paying a little extra and reserving a bigger seat or aisle seat if you a big or tall person. You could also save some money flight-wise if you return on Monday rather than Sunday, though I'm unsure if they would offset the additional hotel cost.

Keep in mind that you also have Dallas Love Field as an option in addition to Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. Love Field is closer to Dallas than DFW Airport, which is a bit of an advantage when traveling to the north Dallas suburbs where McKinney is located. Most Southwest Airlines flights to from the DFW area serve Love Field.

CHIP72 Thanks for the feedback!!

[West Florida]

Did you end up going in 2017?

Haha, if you only knew. We had my wife's dad's family Christmas that Saturday where we had already made plans from out of state to be there. I tried hard to negotiate my way out of it all week leading up to it so I could go to the game. There is a saying in baseball, "sometimes you win, sometimes you lose and sometimes it rains." Well, I didn't win and it didn't rain.

[LSC Fan]

I've never understood why the NCAA insists on the championship being played the following weekend after the semis. Why not wait until after Christmas so it gives fans and parents a chance to book travel plans at more favorable rates and allows schools to get all the semester end stuff out of the way? I could somewhat understand when the game was battling for a TV slot on ESPN or CBS against the bowl games. But the D2 and D3 games have pretty much been relegated to ESPN U and are preempted if Duke's basketball game with the Little College on the Creek goes a few minutes into the D2 time slot as it did on CBS and ESPN, so why the need to continue to position the games for favorable TV slots?

[Brandon]

I've never understood why the NCAA insists on the championship being played the following weekend after the semis. Why not wait until after Christmas so it gives fans and parents a chance to book travel plans at more favorable rates and allows schools to get all the semester end stuff out of the way? I could somewhat understand when the game was battling for a TV slot on ESPN or CBS against the bowl games, but the D2 and D3 games have pretty much been relegated to ESPN U and are preempted if Duke's basketball game with the Little College on the Creek goes a few minutes into the D2 time slot as it did on CBS and ESPN, so why the need to continue to position the games for favorable TV slots?

I have come to believe this would be huge.

[West Florida]

I've never understood why the NCAA insists on the championship being played the following weekend after the semis. Why not wait until after Christmas so it gives fans and parents a chance to book travel plans at more favorable rates and allows schools to get all the semester end stuff out of the way? I could somewhat understand when the game was battling for a TV slot on ESPN or CBS against the bowl games, but the D2 and D3 games have pretty much been relegated to ESPN U and are preempted if Duke's basketball game with the Little College on the Creek goes a few minutes into the D2 time slot as it did on CBS and ESPN, so why the need to continue to position the games for favorable TV slots?

It seems like that would help everyone out so much. I think that's brilliant and I wish that is the way it was.

[JakeTAMUC]

If you are flying in for 2 days and can make do with a backpack full of stuff, Spirit is just fine for a flight from Minneapolis do Dallas. Wouldnt want to go coast to coast with them though.

[Twincitiesmav]

If you are flying in for 2 days and can make do with a backpack full of stuff, Spirit is just fine for a flight from Minneapolis do Dallas. Wouldnt want to go coast to coast with them though.

Thanks for the feedback JakeTAMUC

[Hornetfan]

I've never understood why the NCAA insists on the championship being played the following weekend after the semis. Why not wait until after Christmas so it gives fans and parents a chance to book travel plans at more favorable rates and allows schools to get all the semester end stuff out of the way? I could somewhat understand when the game was battling for a TV slot on ESPN or CBS against the bowl games, but the D2 and D3 games have pretty much been relegated to ESPN U and are preempted if Duke's basketball game with the Little College on the Creek goes a few minutes into the D2 time slot as it did on CBS and ESPN, so why the need to continue to position the games for favorable TV slots?

How long after Christmas would you suggest? If you play on the first Saturday after Christmas are you going to keep everyone on campus and practice on Christmas Day? How are you going to house and feed everyone when the rest of campus is shut down? What do you do if Christmas is on a Thursday or Friday?

I like the idea of a week off. As it is now both teams got back home late Saturday night/early Sunday morning and then will have to leave again on Wednesday night or Thursday morning to get to the championship site for all the press conferences and community service stuff. That leaves you maybe one day of practice before the biggest game of the year.

I would rather they start the season the last Saturday of August and then be done with games by the first Saturday in November. That would allow a week off between the semis and the finals but would still allow you to be done before Christmas. It would also eliminate some of the cross over between football and basketball. It would also theoretically mean there is less of a chance of the kind of snow storms and freezing conditions that we've seen in the playoffs.

[LSC Fan]

How long after Christmas would you suggest? If you play on the first Saturday after Christmas are you going to keep everyone on campus and practice on Christmas Day? How are you going to house and feed everyone when the rest of campus is shut down? What do you do if Christmas is on a Thursday or Friday?

I like the idea of a week off. As it is now both teams got back home late Saturday night/early Sunday morning and then will have to leave again on Wednesday night or Thursday morning to get to the championship site for all the press conferences and community service stuff. That leaves you maybe one day of practice before the biggest game of the year.

I would rather they start the season the last Saturday of August and then be done with games by the first Saturday in November. That would allow a week off between the semis and the finals but would still allow you to be done before Christmas. It would also eliminate some of the cross over between football and basketball. It would also theoretically mean there is less of a chance of the kind of snow storms and freezing conditions that we've seen in the playoffs.

That's a good point. In your scenario, last week would have been the off week with the 'ship this Saturday. It would have accommodated the semester end stuff perfectly. Indeed it does seem strange to wait almost a week or two to start the season when all the other divisions and most high schools are playing their first games that last weekend in August.

[Brandon]

How long after Christmas would you suggest? If you play on the first Saturday after Christmas are you going to keep everyone on campus and practice on Christmas Day? How are you going to house and feed everyone when the rest of campus is shut down? What do you do if Christmas is on a Thursday or Friday?

I like the idea of a week off. As it is now both teams got back home late Saturday night/early Sunday morning and then will have to leave again on Wednesday night or Thursday morning to get to the championship site for all the press conferences and community service stuff. That leaves you maybe one day of practice before the biggest game of the year.

I would rather they start the season the last Saturday of August and then be done with games by the first Saturday in November. That would allow a week off between the semis and the finals but would still allow you to be done before Christmas. It would also eliminate some of the cross over between football and basketball. It would also theoretically mean there is less of a chance of the kind of snow storms and freezing conditions that we've seen in the playoffs.

I totally agree about starting a week earlier. One thing to consider is that the championship game doesn't have to be played in a Saturday. If you look at 2020, it could be played on Monday the 28th or Tuesday the 29th. That would give nine or 10 days between the semifinals and the championship. It's not perfect but it's better.


I also have a cure for the overlap - start basketball second semester. ;)

[CHIP72]

How long after Christmas would you suggest? If you play on the first Saturday after Christmas are you going to keep everyone on campus and practice on Christmas Day? How are you going to house and feed everyone when the rest of campus is shut down? What do you do if Christmas is on a Thursday or Friday?

I like the idea of a week off. As it is now both teams got back home late Saturday night/early Sunday morning and then will have to leave again on Wednesday night or Thursday morning to get to the championship site for all the press conferences and community service stuff. That leaves you maybe one day of practice before the biggest game of the year.

I would rather they start the season the last Saturday of August and then be done with games by the first Saturday in November. That would allow a week off between the semis and the finals but would still allow you to be done before Christmas. It would also eliminate some of the cross over between football and basketball. It would also theoretically mean there is less of a chance of the kind of snow storms and freezing conditions that we've seen in the playoffs.

About 10 years ago, the playoff schedule for the DI-AA/FCS playoffs was changed from being similar to what D2 has now to playing the semifinals the weekend after the Army/Navy Game (i.e. the same weekend as the D2 and for that matter the D3 and NAIA championship games) and the championship game the Saturday before the DI-A/FBS championship game (this season the DI-AA/FCS championship game is on Saturday 1/11). The DI-AA/FCS championship game this season and in recent seasons has been scheduled at 12 PM ET on the Saturday it is played. The NCAA does this to avoid having that game overlap with any DI-A/FBS bowl games (which excluding that classification's title game are complete by that point) or NFL playoff games (which are played later the same day, starting at 4:30 PM ET); if the DI-AA/FCS title game overlapped with either bowl games or especially NFL playoff games, it would get buried in the ratings.

If D2 were to move to a schedule similar to DI-AA/FCS, I think the championship game would likely be played the day before the DI-AA/FCS championship game on a Friday night (this season it would be Friday 1/10). The NCAA would want the D2 title game to avoid bowl games, NFL playoff games, and the DI-AA/FCS title game schedule-wise, so it is unlikely it would be played on a Saturday.

I could see a future in which the D2 and D3 championship games are moved to the same weekend as the DI-AA/FCS championship game, and both are played on a Friday evening, with the D3 title game starting at 5 PM ET and the D2 title game beginning at 8 PM or 8:30 PM ET. (It is also possible the D3 title game could be played concurrently with the DI-AA/FCS title game on the Saturday, with the D3 game televised on ESPNU.)