How many miles does your conference spread?

[patssle]

The FCS Distribution Map thread inspired this.

Football only schools in conference. Google maps for driving distance.

Southland
North (UCA) to South (Nicholls): 509 miles
East (Southeastern LA) to West (TXST): 474 miles

MVC
North (Fargo) to South (Springfield): 811 miles
West (Fargo) to East (Youngstown): 1030 miles

Big Sky:
North (Portland) to South (Flagstaff): 1,341 miles
East (Greeley) to West (Portland): 1,213 miles

Ivy League:
North (Penn) to South (Dartmouth): 300 miles
East (Cornell) to West (Harvard): 250 miles

Patriot League
North (Holy Cross) to South (Georgetown): 400 miles
East (Holy Cross) to West (Bucknell): 300 miles

SWAC
East (A-AM) to West (Prairie View): 809 miles
North (A-AM) to South (TSU): 764 miles

NEC
East (Bryant) to West (RMU/Duquesne): 557 miles
North (Albany) to South (RMU/Duquesne): 498 miles

Great West:
North (North Dakota) to South (Cal Poly: 2,067 miles
East to West: ????????

Pioneer:
East (Jacksonville) to West (USD): 2,337 miles
North to South: ????????????

[BearsCountry]

MVC
North (Fargo) to South (Springfield) 811 miles
West (Fargo) to East (Youngstown) 1030 miles

[OldSouth]

Southern Conference
Samford to Elon 508 miles

[dbackjon]

Big Sky:
North-South:
Flagstaff-Portland: 1,341
East-West:
Greeley-Portland: 1,213

[dbackjon]

Southern Conference
Samford to Elon 508 miles


NAU's CLOSEST neighbor, Weber State, is further than that....

[I Bleed Purple]

Let's see, Portland to Flagstaff is 1276.

Portland to Greeley is 1214.

Sacramento to Greeley is 1138.

Cheney to Flagstaff is 1246.

Looks like it's 1276.

[tingly]

Great West is 2067 miles, Cal Poly to North Dakota, but I can shave off 20 miles by fiddling with the map.

[mcveyrl]

Williamsburg, VA to Orono, ME - 839 miles

If/when Georgia St. joins, it will be 1,352 miles

[danefan]

NEC is pretty close:

Bryant to Robert Morris (or Duquesne) 557 miles.

Nothing will beat the PFL though:
Marist to San Diego 2,874 miles

[malibudude]

I'm thinking the Pioneer Conference has even the GWFC beat in footprint size. USD to wherever.

[brownbear]

The furthest distance between any two Ivy League schools is about 300 miles, between Penn and Dartmouth.

Cornell to Harvard is about 250 miles for the longest East-West.

[Go Lehigh TU Owl]

Patriot League

About 400 miles from Holy Cross (Worcester, MA) to Georgetown (Washington D.C)

East to West is about 300 miles: HC Worcester, MA to Bucknell (Lewisburg, PA)

[grizband]

I'm thinking the Pioneer Conference has even the GWFC beat in footprint size. USD to wherever.
USD to Jacksonville - 2,337 miles xeekx

[Ronbo]

USD to Jacksonville - 2,337 miles xeekx

Are you sure that's all it is? That's the Pacific to the Atlantic. Got to be more than 2300 miles.

[Houndawg]

fargo to carbondale 890 miles

[813Jag]

SWAC:
East to West - Huntsville, Al to Prairie Viex, Tx 809 miles
North to South - Huntsville, Al to Houston, Tx 764 miles

[appfan2008]

wow scrolling through all of those i found that the socon is actually pretty compact... i am finding the ivy is the most compact with the socon and patriot right behind...

on the other end... nothing compares to pioneer but great west and big sky arent much better...

[danefan]

Are you sure that's all it is? That's the Pacific to the Atlantic. Got to be more than 2300 miles.

USD to Marist (PFL next year) is further:

Marist to San Diego 2,874 miles

[grizbeer]

According to my calculations the average distance for a Big Sky Game is 646 miles. NAU is an average of 899 miles of other BSC schools, Idaho State is an average of 490 miles.Shortest distance is Weber State/Idaho State at 130.

[ASUG8]

I don't know how the Big Sky affords to play each other - I thought a Boone to Savannah trip was long, but that's nothing.

[brownbear]

I don't know how the Big Sky affords to play each other - I thought a Boone to Savannah trip was long, but that's nothing.

Same here, we always talk about how far Cornell is, but Ithaca's only about six hours away.

[dgreco]

NEC is pretty close:

Bryant to Robert Morris (or Duquesne) 557 miles.

Nothing will beat the PFL though:
Marist to San Diego 2,874 miles

Bryant to RMU/Duquesne E to W is 557

and North to South --

Albany to RMU/Duquesne is 498 miles NEC is pretty spread out

[dgreco]

Here is the entire NEC Averages:

All of NEC average is 274 miles

per school

Duquesne: 341 miles
RMU: 341 miles
Bryant: 302 miles
SFPA: 296 miles
Albany: 280 miles
CCSU: 239 miles
Monmouth 225 miles
SHU: 217 miles
Wagner: 214 miles

[Go...gate]

Fewer pure "bus leagues" than I thought. Ivy, PL, SoCon, Big South and NEC? Anybody else?

[SeattleGriz]

I don't know how the Big Sky affords to play each other - I thought a Boone to Savannah trip was long, but that's nothing.

That 500 mile trip I make from Seattle to Missoula to watch the games gets to be a little long sometimes.

[813Jag]

Fewer pure "bus leagues" than I thought. Ivy, PL, SoCon, Big South and NEC? Anybody else?
I'm pretty sure the SWAC is a bus league.

Southern's average is 286 miles.

[MorgantonAPPAlum]

I'm assuming that BSC schools usually fly, but I'm wondering if they fly commercial, charter or if they have a dedicated aircraft (I can't imagine that they would have their own plane, but you can never tell what a generous alum will spring for).

[JayJ79]

Big Sky:
North (Flagstaff) to South (Portland): 1,341 miles
East (Greeley) to West (Portland): 1,213 miles

My western geography is a little fuzzy, but isn't Portland to the North and Flagstaff to the South?

[patssle]

My western geography is a little fuzzy, but isn't Portland to the North and Flagstaff to the South?

Americans don't have maps, nobody will know the difference!

[JayJ79]

Following dgreco's format, here are the averages for the MVFC. (I compiled this last year and saved the spreadsheet. I think I used Mapquest instead of Google, and went with their estimated shortest driving time vs. shortest distance. but the numbers are fairly comparable)

Average distance to all other MVFC locations, by school:
Illinois State: 377 miles
Indiana State: 426 miles
Missouri State: 507 miles
UNI: 422 miles
NDSU: 700 miles
SDSU: 619 miles
SIU: 482 miles
WIU: 381 miles
YSU: 717 miles

total conference average: 514 miles

[JayJ79]

Americans don't have maps, nobody will know the difference!

I personally believe that U.S. Americans are unable to do so because some people out there in our nation don’t have maps, and, I believe that our education like such as in South Africa and the Iraq everywhere like, such as and I believe that they should, our education over here in the U.S. should help the U.S., err, should help South Africa and should help the Iraq and the Asian countries, so we will be able to build up our future.

[patssle]

I personally believe that U.S. Americans are unable to do so because some people out there in our nation don’t have maps, and, I believe that our education like such as in South Africa and the Iraq everywhere like, such as and I believe that they should, our education over here in the U.S. should help the U.S., err, should help South Africa and should help the Iraq and the Asian countries, so we will be able to build up our future.

That's an Appy State student for you! xlolx xthumbsupx

[Go...gate]

Good thread, because it provides some insight into realistic conference "footprints". To add a school such as Richmond or VMI to the PL would certainly alter travel patterns and transportation modes for member schools new and old. That would be an argument in favor of a school like Marist as a new PL member. They are within the existing footprint.

[clenz]

I personally believe that U.S. Americans are unable to do so because some people out there in our nation don’t have maps, and, I believe that our education like such as in South Africa and the Iraq everywhere like, such as and I believe that they should, our education over here in the U.S. should help the U.S., err, should help South Africa and should help the Iraq and the Asian countries, so we will be able to build up our future.

HA! Rep points for that. Amazing use of the available material.

[BearsCountry]

Has anybody else noticed that Google maps is just using interstates on their directions? When I did some for the Bears, it was sending us way down out of the way just to stay on the interstate.

[JayJ79]

HA! Rep points for that. Amazing use of the available material.

eh, patssle lobbed that softball to me with his "americans don't have maps", so I had to take a swing at it.

I took his comment as referring to Miss Teen South Carolina anyway.

[I Bleed Purple]

Good thread, because it provides some insight into realistic conference "footprints". To add a school such as Richmond or VMI to the PL would certainly alter travel patterns and transportation modes for member schools new and old. That would be an argument in favor of a school like Marist as a new PL member. They are within the existing footprint.

Maybe NDSU and SDSU fans need to see this thread and this post. Just switch in NDSU, SDSU, BSC, and UNC in their appropriate places.

[cats2506]

State HS playoffs are going on this weekend in Montana, Sombody figured out that all of the traveling teams will travel over 12,000 miles, Class AA, A, B and C (both 6 man and 8 man). Another thing is that Miles City is playing Polson, thats 556 miles one way. Reciently on a Bobcat radio show they were compring the experience of the Montana kids and some of the players from other states, they mentioned that HS football players in Montana were used to several hours on the bus priror to games and a lot of times players from other states had never traveled more than an hour to a game.

[dgreco]

State HS playoffs are going on this weekend in Montana, Sombody figured out that all of the traveling teams will travel over 12,000 miles, Class AA, A, B and C (both 6 man and 8 man). Another thing is that Miles City is playing Polson, thats 556 miles one way. Reciently on a Bobcat radio show they were compring the experience of the Montana kids and some of the players from other states, they mentioned that HS football players in Montana were used to several hours on the bus priror to games and a lot of times players from other states had never traveled more than an hour to a game.

Hell in RI the furthest out of the 4 Divisions is probably 25 miles and a 15 minute ride.

[JayJ79]

State HS playoffs are going on this weekend in Montana, Sombody figured out that all of the traveling teams will travel over 12,000 miles, Class AA, A, B and C (both 6 man and 8 man). Another thing is that Miles City is playing Polson, thats 556 miles one way. Reciently on a Bobcat radio show they were compring the experience of the Montana kids and some of the players from other states, they mentioned that HS football players in Montana were used to several hours on the bus priror to games and a lot of times players from other states had never traveled more than an hour to a game.

I thought that was part of the appeal of living out west, all the wide open space? heh.

[SLOfan]

Just to give some perspective for you East Coasters... When CP traveled to Brookings SD this year, they were at SLO airport at 5:00 am and flew from SLO to Phoenix (about 1.25 hours). Changed planes in PHX to fly to Minneapolis (about 3+ hours). Caught a bus in Min and took a 4.5 hour bus ride to Brookings, SD. After the game (and a win), the bus picked them up at 1:00am to go back to Minn and catch an early morning flight from Minn back to PHX and then to SLO. They arrived back in SLO in the afternoon on Sunday.

[JALMOND]

I'm assuming that BSC schools usually fly, but I'm wondering if they fly commercial, charter or if they have a dedicated aircraft (I can't imagine that they would have their own plane, but you can never tell what a generous alum will spring for).

PSU to NAU---Fly to Phoenix, bus to Flagstaff
PSU to EWU---Bus to Cheney
PSU to Sac State---Bus to Sacramento
PSU to WSU--Fly to Salt Lake, bus to Odgen
PSU to ISU---Fly to Salt Lake, bus to Pocatello
PSU to UNC---Fly to Denver, bus to Greeley
PSU to UM---Fly to Missoula
PSU to MSU---Fly to Belgrade, bus to Bozeman

This year's out of conference we bussed to both Davis and Washington State. Last year's trip to McNeese, we flew to Houston and bussed to Lake Charles. Long trip. Next year, we will bus to Oregon State.xlolx xnodx :D

We have bussed in the past to both Weber and Idaho State, and also have bussed to both Montana and Montana State before.

[JALMOND]

Big Sky:
North-South:
Flagstaff-Portland: 1,341
East-West:
Greeley-Portland: 1,213

And adding NDSU and SDSU to the Big Sky would have doubled that.

[I Bleed Purple]

And adding NDSU and SDSU to the Big Sky would have doubled that.
Not sure about that, so I did some numbers.

Flagstaff to Fargo: 1581 miles
Portland to Fargo: 1504 miles
Portland to Brookings: 1604 miles
Sacramento to Fargo: 1707 miles
Sacramento to Brookings: 1701 miles

[Big Dawg]

From Daytona Beach, FL(Bethune Cookman) to Dover, DE(Delaware St.) is about 897.01 miles

[grizband]

Following dgreco's format, here are the averages for the MVFC. (I compiled this last year and saved the spreadsheet. I think I used Mapquest instead of Google, and went with their estimated shortest driving time vs. shortest distance. but the numbers are fairly comparable)

Average distance to all other MVFC locations, by school:
Illinois State: 377 miles
Indiana State: 426 miles
Missouri State: 507 miles
UNI: 422 miles
NDSU: 700 miles
SDSU: 619 miles
SIU: 482 miles
WIU: 381 miles
YSU: 717 miles

total conference average: 514 miles
I was a big proponent of accepting NDSU and SDSU into the Big Sky Conference. However, when you look at these distances, compared to the possible travel distances in the Big Sky, I think its obvious the schools made the best choice.

[Peems]

Just to give some perspective for you East Coasters... When CP traveled to Brookings SD this year, they were at SLO airport at 5:00 am and flew from SLO to Phoenix (about 1.25 hours). Changed planes in PHX to fly to Minneapolis (about 3+ hours). Caught a bus in Min and took a 4.5 hour bus ride to Brookings, SD. After the game (and a win), the bus picked them up at 1:00am to go back to Minn and catch an early morning flight from Minn back to PHX and then to SLO. They arrived back in SLO in the afternoon on Sunday.

And then had class on Monday!

[OldAggieAlum]

If you include the new schools that just joined the Great West it's:


NJIT (Newark, NJ) --> Cal Poly (San Luis Obispo, CA) 2531 miles
North Dakota (Grand Forks, ND) --> Texas Pan American (Edinburg, TX) 1490 miles

However, as far as I know NJIT and Cal Poly; and North Dakota and Texas Pan American don't actually have any games scheduled.

I haven't heard whether the Dakota schools plan to schedule the new schools for non-football sports.

[dgreco]

I was a big proponent of accepting NDSU and SDSU into the Big Sky Conference. However, when you look at these distances, compared to the possible travel distances in the Big Sky, I think its obvious the schools made the best choice.

take out both NDSU and SDSU and everyones averages go down, they probably go way down too.

[clenz]

eh, patssle lobbed that softball to me with his "americans don't have maps", so I had to take a swing at it.

I took his comment as referring to Miss Teen South Carolina anyway.
Well you nailed it instead of a swing and a miss like most would have had.


I know Iowa isn't Montana for driving distrances, but the average one way trip for the sub-state round of the HS playoffs in Iowa was about 350 miles, on a school night.

[813Jag]

How does your conference handle travel for basketball?

In the SWAC each school has a travel partner (Alcorn/SU, Grambling/JSU, UAPB/MVSU, AlaSU/AAMU, and TSU/PVU) and the games are played on a Saturday/Monday schedule except for the first and last weeks of conference play (Thursday/Saturday).

[dgreco]

Following dgreco's format, here are the averages for the MVFC. (I compiled this last year and saved the spreadsheet. I think I used Mapquest instead of Google, and went with their estimated shortest driving time vs. shortest distance. but the numbers are fairly comparable)

Average distance to all other MVFC locations, by school:
Illinois State: 377 miles
Indiana State: 426 miles
Missouri State: 507 miles
UNI: 422 miles
NDSU: 700 miles
SDSU: 619 miles
SIU: 482 miles
WIU: 381 miles
YSU: 717 miles

total conference average: 514 miles

I thought NDSU and SDSU were funny in there so I figured I would do that without both of them. Clearly YSU is the oddball but we were talking about NDSU AND SDSU to the BSC instead.

So this is what I got:

Illinois State goes from 377 mile average to 296 mile average
Indiana State goes from 426 mile average to 359 mile average
Missouri State goes from 507 mile average to 378 mile average
North Iowa goes from 422 mile average to 297 mile average
Southern Illinois goes from 482 mile average to 417 mile average
Western Illinois goes from 381 mile average to 272 mile average
Youngstown State goes from 717 mile average to 619 mile average

The MVFC average goes from 514 mile average to 376 mile average.

Very interesting numbers. I would do it without YSU also, but unless they went MAC I don't see a scenario.

[I Bleed Purple]

How does your conference handle travel for basketball?

In the SWAC each school has a travel partner (Alcorn/SU, Grambling/JSU, UAPB/MVSU, AlaSU/AAMU, and TSU/PVU) and the games are played on a Saturday/Monday schedule except for the first and last weeks of conference play (Thursday/Saturday).
Well there are the naturals. MSU and UM. EWU and PSU. ISU and WSU. CSUS, NAU, and UNC are kind of out there, so they don't have a partner.

[poly51]

If you include the new schools that just joined the Great West it's:


NJIT (Newark, NJ) --> Cal Poly (San Luis Obispo, CA) 2531 miles
North Dakota (Grand Forks, ND) --> Texas Pan American (Edinburg, TX) 1490 miles

However, as far as I know NJIT and Cal Poly; and North Dakota and Texas Pan American don't actually have any games scheduled.

I haven't heard whether the Dakota schools plan to schedule the new schools for non-football sports.

Southern Utah, UC Davis and Cal Poly are Great West Football only schools. North Dakota and South Dakota are all sports schools. All of the others don't have football so they don't play SUU, UC Davis and Cal Poly.