INDIANAPOLIS – According to NBC’s College Football Talk, the NCAA announced on Tuesday that it would take the next step in offsetting the costs-of-travel for the additional weekend of games due to the college football playoff system. Last season, the $2,500 stipend was available to the parents/guardians of just the finalists. The news is a big deal for the teams and their families from the south to the atlantic seaboard that are already faced with a trip to Arizona if lucky enough to make it to the final game.
For example, FSU had to fly to Los Angeles for their semifinal game for the Rose Bowl and had they defeated Oregon would’ve faced a trip back to Glendale, Arizona for the finals, thus making this playoff system very costly to the families. This season the playoff games are in Dallas and Miami via the Cotton and Orange Bowls with the finals being played once again in Glendale.
The potentially biggest impact for this season in particular is that both cities for the semifinals are well within driving distance in addition to cost-effective hubs for airlines for the families of SEC, ACC, and Big-12 hopefuls trying to witness the action. Those factors alone should drastically reduce the overhead for many folks stretching the stipend even farther.
For more on today’s decision, click the link below via NBC’s College Football Talk.
