CFB51 College Football Fan Community
The Power Five => Big Ten => Topic started by: Kris60 on January 24, 2025, 08:56:04 AM
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First off, congrats on your team winning it. Hope y’all enjoyed the journey. Speaking of which, I’m interested in how many people on here (or people you know) made the trips to the games. I’ve always been of the opinion all these neutral site games are too much to ask fans to travel to. Ohio St had to play in Pasadena, Dallas, and Atlanta to win it all.
Did anyone go to all 3?
Do you anyone who went to all 3?
If you went to one how did you choose which one to go?
If you attended a game is it rude if I ask what the ballpark amount it cost to go was? Tickets, hotel, airfare, food, souvenirs, etc.
Just curious.
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A retired person could make that a driving trip.
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well, Dallas to Hotlanta wouldn't be bad
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Yeah, I suppose. Not much to see between LA and Dallas unless you fancy stops in Phoenix and El Paso.
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some folks find the Grand Canyon impressive
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That's pretty out of the way.
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Hope you don't mind me answering even though I'm not a Buckeye fan, but basically most of my friends and family and business partner are.
I don't know anyone that traveled to all three, but I know two groups that went to the final two games and 3 different groups that went to the championship game. A couple of them got ahead of the game and booked the flight prior to beating Texas. Their flights were under $200 from Cleveland. Those that waited until after the Texas had flight costs above $800. Hotel costs weren't cheap from my understanding either. 7-$800 per night and they weren't exactly high end hotels. I don't know a single person that paid under $1500 on the secondary market. I do know a Dr. couple that are alumni and they were able to get the tickets quite a bit cheaper directly, but that was the one off.
My business partner went with a group and they had a chance to get all you can eat and drink tickets in something called Molly's Club and they were $1500. They balked at it thinking they could wait a day or two and get them cheaper and ended up costing them $500 per ticket for worse seats that didn't include food and drink. Not cheap.
That being said, when i priced out going to see Michigan last year with my wife, it looked like it was going to run 5-6k for flight, hotel and tickets. I couldn't justify it and it sounds like the OSU groups that I know that went down ran a little over 3k per person for the trip.
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Hope you don't mind me answering even though I'm not a Buckeye fan, but basically most of my friends and family and business partner are.
I don't know anyone that traveled to all three, but I know two groups that went to the final two games and 3 different groups that went to the championship game. A couple of them got ahead of the game and booked the flight prior to beating Texas. Their flights were under $200 from Cleveland. Those that waited until after the Texas had flight costs above $800. Hotel costs weren't cheap from my understanding either. 7-$800 per night and they weren't exactly high end hotels. I don't know a single person that paid under $1500 on the secondary market. I do know a Dr. couple that are alumni and they were able to get the tickets quite a bit cheaper directly, but that was the one off.
My business partner went with a group and they had a chance to get all you can eat and drink tickets in something called Molly's Club and they were $1500. They balked at it thinking they could wait a day or two and get them cheaper and ended up costing them $500 per ticket for worse seats that didn't include food and drink. Not cheap.
That being said, when i priced out going to see Michigan last year with my wife, it looked like it was going to run 5-6k for flight, hotel and tickets. I couldn't justify it and it sounds like the OSU groups that I know that went down ran a little over 3k per person for the trip.
That is EXPENSIVE and one of the things I don't like about the CFP.
For reference, I went to:
- The 1997 Rose Bowl (1996 season) against ASU
- the 2002 BCSNCG in the Fiesta Bowl against Miami, FL
- The 2006 BCSNCG in the Fiesta Bowl against Florida
- The 2007 BCSNCG in the Sugar Bowl against LSU
- The 2014 Orange Bowl (2013 season) against Clemson
- The 2014 CFP Semi-Final in the Sugar Bowl against Bama
The Rose Bowl trip was a family trip with my parents and brother so I didn't pay for that. We drove.
The 2002 NCG trip was a few years after I graduated and with my brother who was still in school so we did it on the cheap to the extent possible. We flew to Vegas and drove to the game. In Tempe we stayed with a friend of mine.
The 2006 NCG trip was a package that I bought from the school. I bought the single occupancy version because I went alone.
The 2007 NCG trip was my brother and I again, we drove. We met up with a friend in Tuscaloosa (had ribs at Dreamland) then drove the rest of the way to NOLA.
The 2014 Orange Bowl was with my then girlfriend. We drove.
The 2014 CFP Semi-Final trip was with my (then girlfriend, now) wife. We drove and bought the "gameday package" from the alumni association. The gameday packaged included the game ticket and also a whole day of activities starting at 8 or 9 am with a riverboat ride on the Mississippi River.
The riverboat ride was cool, they played Hang on Sloopy on the Colipe (sp?). Archie, Brutus, and the Cheerleaders were on the boat with us.
The "gameday package" wasn't cheap but it included a lot of cool stuff like the boat. Also within that:
When we arrived we got checked in and got bracelets then immediately encountered a waitress who asked if we wanted a Mimosa or Bloody Mary. I replied that it was a little early to start drinking. She then said the magic word, "it's included" to which I replied "I'll take two".
Then there was an extensive breakfast buffet on the boat.
The old way you had options. You could buy an expensive package or do-it-yourself on the cheap. Now you are pretty much stuck with an expensive package because as @SuperMario (https://www.cfb51.com/index.php?action=profile;u=1596) 's post referenced, airfare is a freaking fortune when you buy five days out.
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Now you are pretty much stuck with an expensive package because as @SuperMario (https://www.cfb51.com/index.php?action=profile;u=1596) 's post referenced, airfare is a freaking fortune when you buy five days out.
Just a pro tip... If you travel relatively frequently, buying tickets earlier (cheaper) and then canceling is an option, as long as it's an airline that you expect you'll have future travel plans on.
For example, I wouldn't bat an eye to book a speculative trip on American or Southwest, and then if my team loses, cancel. I'll use the refunded flight credits on either airline at some point. ESPECIALLY for Southwest--their flight credits never expire.
I mean, in just the next year I'll expect to have to travel to Purdue and Texas to take my son on college visits, and to Hawaii for my wife's friend's dad's memorial service. If I'd been a fan of a team with a realistic opportunity to make it to the CFP title game, I'd have had high confidence that the flight credits would go to good use.
All that said, it sounds like everything else is STILL ultra expensive... But if you're willing to commit to buying a ticket and staying at a hotel for the CFPCG that your team makes, and you have to cancel, whatever replacement vacation you're take is likely going to be cheaper than that! So the cost of the flight will go to another use.
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Just a pro tip... If you travel relatively frequently, buying tickets earlier (cheaper) and then canceling is an option, as long as it's an airline that you expect you'll have future travel plans on.
That's where miles/points come in for me. On American, you can book with miles and cancel anytime for a full refund of those miles.
If Wisconsin were ever to make a run (doubtful) that is how I'd book things.
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Just a pro tip... If you travel relatively frequently, buying tickets earlier (cheaper) and then canceling is an option, as long as it's an airline that you expect you'll have future travel plans on.
For example, I wouldn't bat an eye to book a speculative trip on American or Southwest, and then if my team loses, cancel. I'll use the refunded flight credits on either airline at some point. ESPECIALLY for Southwest--their flight credits never expire.
I mean, in just the next year I'll expect to have to travel to Purdue and Texas to take my son on college visits, and to Hawaii for my wife's friend's dad's memorial service. If I'd been a fan of a team with a realistic opportunity to make it to the CFP title game, I'd have had high confidence that the flight credits would go to good use.
All that said, it sounds like everything else is STILL ultra expensive... But if you're willing to commit to buying a ticket and staying at a hotel for the CFPCG that your team makes, and you have to cancel, whatever replacement vacation you're take is likely going to be cheaper than that! So the cost of the flight will go to another use.
That's where miles/points come in for me. On American, you can book with miles and cancel anytime for a full refund of those miles.
If Wisconsin were ever to make a run (doubtful) that is how I'd book things.
Thank you but that really wouldn't help me. I haven't flown since I think 2018 and honestly might not ever again.
Part of the issue for me is that I have four kids. When you do the cost comparison for flying vs driving adding people to the car doesn't really cost you anything* so the more people are traveling the better deal it is to drive. In my case, as a family of six, it is WAY cheaper to drive anywhere.
*This isn't exactly accurate. It depends on if the additional people cause you to take a less efficient vehicle.
Example for my family, considering Florida for Spring Break:
Per a quick Google, round trip flights for our Spring Break week start at $428 (Spirit, it is over $800 on United). The drive is 1,230 miles so at 25 MPG (my Suburban gets close to that) it would be ~50 gallons of gas so at $3.50/gal it would cost $175. Ie, it would be $250 cheaper for me to drive to Florida by myself in my Suburban than to fly. But while the other five passengers are basically free in my Suburban they cost $428 each on the plane so for the six of us it would be $175 to drive or $2,568 to fly.
If I were going to Florida by myself or even just my wife and I, I might pay the extra $250 or $678 to save the time but I'm not dropping $2,500 for a few hours knocked off the trip.
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flying sucks
and the rental car in San Fran sucked
Hyundai with a 4-banger
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Thank you but that really wouldn't help me. I haven't flown since I think 2018 and honestly might not ever again.
Part of the issue for me is that I have four kids. When you do the cost comparison for flying vs driving adding people to the car doesn't really cost you anything* so the more people are traveling the better deal it is to drive. In my case, as a family of six, it is WAY cheaper to drive anywhere.
*This isn't exactly accurate. It depends on if the additional people cause you to take a less efficient vehicle.
Example for my family, considering Florida for Spring Break:
Per a quick Google, round trip flights for our Spring Break week start at $428 (Spirit, it is over $800 on United). The drive is 1,230 miles so at 25 MPG (my Suburban gets close to that) it would be ~50 gallons of gas so at $3.50/gal it would cost $175. Ie, it would be $250 cheaper for me to drive to Florida by myself in my Suburban than to fly. But while the other five passengers are basically free in my Suburban they cost $428 each on the plane so for the six of us it would be $175 to drive or $2,568 to fly.
If I were going to Florida by myself or even just my wife and I, I might pay the extra $250 or $678 to save the time but I'm not dropping $2,500 for a few hours knocked off the trip.
IOW: Kids ruin lives.
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But more seriously, that's why I added the caveat of "if you travel often", and probably should have qualified that with "if you travel [by air] often".
The advantage of being divorced is that when my wife and I travel, it's just the two of us and the kids are at my ex's place. More than likely if we were to go anywhere that included all three kids, it would be limited to places we can drive.
But honestly, vacation with kids--especially young-ish kids--sucks anyway. It's like parenting at home, but with a LOT more work b/c you don't have all your own stuff available, and a LOT more expensive.
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IOW: Kids ruin lives.
I'm very happy they are no longer on my payroll.
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me too
can afford toys again
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Did they pay their own way to Frisco?
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Hah!!!
I picked up the airline, lodging, and rental car.
They picked up most everything after we got there.
The trip was my idea. They would have preferred something warmer with a beach.
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Thank you but that really wouldn't help me. I haven't flown since I think 2018 and honestly might not ever again.
Part of the issue for me is that I have four kids. When you do the cost comparison for flying vs driving adding people to the car doesn't really cost you anything* so the more people are traveling the better deal it is to drive. In my case, as a family of six, it is WAY cheaper to drive anywhere.
lol.. that's bold.. Since my brain surgery, i really struggle driving over 90 minutes at a time, so I almost don't have a choice but to fly. I drove out to BGSU right before thanksgiving and that wasn't easy and that was the two of us. I'm sound sensitive now, so there's no chance i could drive to florida with our 4 in the back seats.. NO CHANCE.. So i've just had to deal with the reality of flight costs. Family of 6 also takes a lot of hotels out of the mix unless renting a suite or two connecting rooms. So when we went to Disney last spring, it was cheaper renting a 10 bedroom house with a pool.
Kids definitely add the element of "I have to figure out how to make more money." They definitely eliminate bold spending on areas that would now be considered selfish, like 6k for me and the wife to take in a single football game. Before kids i would have said I can't miss the opportunity to see Michigan in a national championship. Now I say, I can't justify that over taking the family on a vacation or setting that money aside to send them to my high school alma mater, which isn't cheap.
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Hah!!!
I picked up the airline, lodging, and rental car.
They picked up most everything after we got there.
The trip was my idea. They would have preferred something warmer with a beach.
So, still on your payroll.
:96:
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Bribing your kids with a nice trip just to hang out with you, isn't the same as them being on the payroll.
And I can DEFINITELY see my future self bribing my kids with a nice trip on occasion...
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Our youngest, his wife and three kids are coming down in May. No bribe.
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Our youngest, his wife and three kids are coming down in May. No bribe.
Well, you're obviously a much nicer father, than Fearless and I, are.
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Our youngest, his wife and three kids are coming down in May. No bribe.
Are you providing lodging and meals?
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Bribing your kids with a nice trip just to hang out with you, isn't the same as them being on the payroll.
And I can DEFINITELY see my future self bribing my kids with a nice trip on occasion...
Yup, kids are 28 and 30. Been about 10 years since the last family vacation.
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Are you providing lodging and meals?
No. They rented the house next door from snowbirds.
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nice work
and a bit lucky
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Just a pro tip... If you travel relatively frequently, buying tickets earlier (cheaper) and then canceling is an option, as long as it's an airline that you expect you'll have future travel plans on.
For example, I wouldn't bat an eye to book a speculative trip on American or Southwest, and then if my team loses, cancel. I'll use the refunded flight credits on either airline at some point. ESPECIALLY for Southwest--their flight credits never expire.
I mean, in just the next year I'll expect to have to travel to Purdue and Texas to take my son on college visits, and to Hawaii for my wife's friend's dad's memorial service. If I'd been a fan of a team with a realistic opportunity to make it to the CFP title game, I'd have had high confidence that the flight credits would go to good use.
All that said, it sounds like everything else is STILL ultra expensive... But if you're willing to commit to buying a ticket and staying at a hotel for the CFPCG that your team makes, and you have to cancel, whatever replacement vacation you're take is likely going to be cheaper than that! So the cost of the flight will go to another use.
I use my southwest card for all my expenses, so I spend enough so my companion flies free with me and generally earn enough points to regularly get my flights free also.
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Bribing your kids with a nice trip just to hang out with you, isn't the same as them being on the payroll.
And I can DEFINITELY see my future self bribing my kids with a nice trip on occasion...
In 2023 I took my kids on west half of the country on a cruise out of long beach and took the east half on a cruise out of charleston. That was Christmas for them that year.
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Ohio State will travel fine, and they have plenty of fans that already live near each of the bowl sites.
Round 2 should be home sites as well, not just round 1.
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home sites are better and actually give a reward to those with the better seed