This is why being in the WAC is bad.

[rustondawg5198]

But once again, I really don't care about what ULM does. I care about what Tech does. And having to go through, once again, ALL FOUR TIME ZONES to play a conference game is just flat ridiculous. Wasn't quite as bad before the WAC added Idaho and Utah State because those places might as well be in Siberia as long as it takes to get there. Idaho is by far the worst.

Maybe there could be some compromise. It's not so bad flying commercial to Las Cruces (El Paso + bus ride), Fresno, San Jose or Nevada. It's Shreveport-DFW/Houston-Destination. Logan is a little worse, but still not too ridiculous. But getting to Boise and Moscow is insane. Why not fix it where we play a doubleheader at Moscow on Thursday night, doubleheader at Boise on Saturday, and be done with it? And charter one flight per year to get up there? Then have Boise and Idaho do the same thing at Tech and NMSU. While hosting a doubleheader isn't the ideal way to play Division I basketball, it would sure alleviate a lot of headaches in that situation.

[dascoop]

The best short term solution is obviously to have charter flights to at least some of the more difficult to reach locations. Does anybody have any idea how much it would cost to charter to 3 or 4 destinations a year, i.e Idaho, Boise State, Hawaii. I know for a fact that some schools use charter flights to help in recruiting and to recruit against school.

[Dawgpix]

But once again, I really don't care about what ULM does. I care about what Tech does. And having to go through, once again, ALL FOUR TIME ZONES to play a conference game is just flat ridiculous. Wasn't quite as bad before the WAC added Idaho and Utah State because those places might as well be in Siberia as long as it takes to get there. Idaho is by far the worst.

Maybe there could be some compromise. It's not so bad flying commercial to Las Cruces (El Paso + bus ride), Fresno, San Jose or Nevada. It's Shreveport-DFW/Houston-Destination. Logan is a little worse, but still not too ridiculous. But getting to Boise and Moscow is insane. Why not fix it where we play a doubleheader at Moscow on Thursday night, doubleheader at Boise on Saturday, and be done with it? And charter one flight per year to get up there? Then have Boise and Idaho do the same thing at Tech and NMSU. While hosting a doubleheader isn't the ideal way to play Division I basketball, it would sure alleviate a lot of headaches in that situation.

FWIW . . . Here's the length of runways to compare:
Pullman-Moscow, Id.: 6731 feet (elevation 2,551)
Monroe, La.: 7500
Shreveport: 8351

Although the Pullman/Moscow airport (4 miles from U of Idaho) is served commercially by Horizon Air turpoprops (Bombardier Q200), the two universities (U of Wash and U of Idaho) use Airbus 319 charters, according to Wikipedia.

During basketball season, the short runway and higher elevation would seem to be tough odds in wintry weather for small charters. But, heh, I'm not a pilot, just an air enthusiast.