What Passengers Traveling by Air for March Madness Should Know

Every March, the entire basketball and sports community awaits the NCAA March Madness bracket and many quality basketball games between the country's best collegiate teams. Between the Men's and Women's tournaments, there will be 135 games to tune in for, with many additional media coverages on fan events and growing storylines. 

This year, the Men's Final Four tournament will occur in Phoenix, while the Women's Final Four will occur in Cleveland, both in early April. With all the travel logistics for the teams playing across the tournament, here are some takeaways that shed some light on the intricacies of the tournaments.

Although all teams will likely have to fly to Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX) or Cleveland Hopkins International Airport (CLE) for the Final Four upon qualifying, the tournament's preliminary rounds are spread nationwide. This year's regions in the Men's tournament include East, West, South, and Midwest. Typically, the NCAA places some marquee matchups geographically close to some of the greater contenders, which sees the University of Connecticut playing some games in Brooklyn. 

In contrast, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill will play in Charlotte and likely only need a bus to travel across the state. Some of the longer journeys some teams will need to take include the University of Oregon having to fly to Pittsburgh, at over 2,100 miles (3,380 kilometers), and the University of Dayton, located in the birthplace of flight, having to fly over 1,600 miles (2,575 kilometers) to Salt Lake City. With the collapse of the PAC-12 next year, long flights for Oregon will be more regular starting next season.

Regarding team transit, most collegiate teams for basketball travel commercial, so airports will likely be filled with traveling teams nationwide over the week. One of the historic points of contention for traveling teams is the flying dress code for players and staff. Each school and athletic department has a different set of standards for dress codes.

However, they typically fall into two categories:

1. Players and staff maintain a professional dress code for team travel.
2. All players and staff wear team/school-sanctioned attire. 

The latter is more common for long team travel. Additionally, most schools maintain that all acts on a team travel event must align with their university's student code of conduct.

Regarding NCAA airline sponsors, no official airline is listed by the NCAA or March Madness, unlike some professional leagues. For example, the National Basketball Association (NBA) recently signed a multi-year sponsorship agreement with Emirates. As the NCAA is still navigating the early stages of allowing student-athletes to make money from their name and likeness, it would not be surprising to see this change in the coming years. In place, hospitality sponsors include Marriott Bonvoy as the official hotel partner.

Since the announcement of the tournament on Sunday afternoon, flight ticket searches and prices have risen in cities such as Indianapolis, Memphis, and Spokane, amongst the previously mentioned locations. Game tickets for the actual games are typically allotted to the athletic departments of the competing teams. However, tickets can also be found on the secondary market. Best of luck to all the teams and students competing over the next few weeks.