Sports travel management can be a fast-paced environment, particularly during the postseason when professional and collegiate sports leagues and teams often have just a few days' lead time as to where events will be held. During such competitions as the World Series and other playoffs, travel managers rely heavily on the flexibility of suppliers, some of which typically wait on the sidelines and hope to secure last-minute contracts.
Speaking here last week during the National Business Travel Association convention, travel managers for Major League Baseball, the National Football League Players Association and the National Collegiate Athletic Association explained how they depend on relationships with hotels and airlines. They ask these suppliers to hold inventory or maintain preferred rates in particular cities in case postseason events occur there. They also require for their athletes extra security, special (and extra) food and other considerations--all while dealing with superstitious coaches.
For travel during the regular season, "you have months in advance to work with your suppliers," said Ed Goble, CFO and associate athletic director for business operations for the University of Texas at Austin. "When you get into postseason travel, there are very short windows of time to make your plans to get everyone on board and get all the stakeholders involved."
For hotels, that may mean quickly making available banquet space and meeting space equipped with multiple telephone lines, Internet capabilities, copy machines and other office equipment--in addition to guest rooms.
"Strong partnerships is what we are looking for," said MLB corporate travel manager Darla Montalto, discussing hotel accommodations. " 'If your [local] team is winning, just hold space without me even calling you. Then when the request for proposal comes out, you can say that you've got it and you're all ready.' "
"We do not know where our World Series is going to be, and, in many cases, we don't know until two days prior if [one of] the League Championship Series goes to seven games," said Montalto, who manages about $30 million in transient spend. "It's a definite leap of faith, but if you say you will hold [room and meeting space at your hotel] and if something comes up, call and please let me know as soon as [availability] is not there."
In some cases, however, suppliers will not set aside space needed on a speculative basis nor keep rates low. For example, Montalto explained how she had a 150-room commitment last year from one hotel property, but once the New York Yankees and Philadelphia Phillies clinched spots in the World Series, the rates increased $150 and availability plummeted. At the last minute, "all of a sudden they hiked the price up ... that's not going to cut it," she said. "I am looking for a partner who doesn't say at the ninth hour, 'the World Series is going to be here, I think I can fill my hotel at a higher rate and I don't need you anymore.' It's my event, I am the reason why everyone is going there."
Nikki Watson, assistant director for business intelligence and project management for NCAA, offered a similar sentiment: "A lot of the times, it's our event that is driving the demand, so partner with us on getting people there who are going to make the event happen."
The Game Goes On ... With Commercial Airlines
Panelists said the staffs of most sports leagues prefer to fly commercial airlines as opposed to private jets, but the challenge is fulfilling commitments to the airlines during an uncertain sports season.
"We may not make the requirements one month, but we are going to make up for it," said NFL Players Association travel manager Kerry Cosover.
Similarly, Montalto said she typically can make up for underperformance throughout the year with a spike in bookings during the fourth quarter, when MLB's playoffs occur. But last year, MLB was unable to deliver on its commitments because many travelers used ground transportation between its New York headquarters and Philadelphia, she said.
Moreover, some airlines during such major sporting events as the World Series or Superbowl may only issue first-class tickets that are nonrefundable.
"I had two Los Angeles-area teams [the Angels and the Dodgers] in the league championships [last year]," Montalto said. "A third of our transient executives are first-class-level domestic, and when it came down to postseason, all of a sudden all first-class fares were nonrefundable to L.A. Both teams ended up not [advancing to the World Series], so now I'm stuck with I can't even tell you how many nonrefundable tickets. We are looking to partner with our airline friends and try and come up with a win-win where this doesn't happen."
Security, Superstitious Coaches And Big Appetites
Given the star status of many collegiate and professional athletes, sports travel managers are tasked with a slew of additional responsibilities.
For college football, UT's Goble prefers that players are booked on the same hotel floor and that the hotel blocks all phone calls to reduce distractions and increase security. "We travel with some of our own security, but we ask our hotel partners to ramp up their security to protect the athletes from autograph seekers, agents, marketers and fans," he said.
The NFLPA is "pouring sponsor products in the hotels, and we have to put our executives and players in certain cars, makes and models," said NFLPA's Cosover. Additionally, "we look to our hotel providers to notify guests that we are there as a large group, and we may pull some public areas out of service. We ask for the hotel to take a more proactive approach to inform the other guests that will be going on."
For most corporate travel programs, superstition likely is not a factor in the RFP process, but for sports travel "almost 100 percent of coaches are very superstitious and amazing creatures of habit," Goble said. More often than not, if a team didn't win a critical game while staying at a particular hotel, it won't return to that hotel property--despite limited hotel options in some cities. "Oftentimes, we find that they want to go back and stay at the same properties that they have always stayed at, as long as they have had good success and they have won."
Recalling one example where an important rivalry game was at stake, Goble said the hotel property dropped the ball as the team endured phone calls from fans late at night and did not have a chef for breakfast before the big game. "You could imagine what it was like running back and forth to Jack in the Box to get breakfast for 75 football players," he said. "We didn't win that game, and we have not gone back to stay at that hotel."
Ensuring athletes are well fed can be a challenge for some hotel properties, due to restrictive diets and/or the amount of food players consume. Cases of Gatorade, of course, are a must.
"We are moving some large athletes--basketball players, football players--oftentimes they are seven feet tall," according to Cosover. "We understand there are fabulous properties out there, but we need beds and bathrooms that can accommodate the large statures of our players, and the same goes with food and beverage."
Goble agreed. "They are hungry student athletes," he said. "They are big boys, and it can be shocking if you haven't dealt with a team before to see them eat."