San Antonio Spurs spend Night on the Tarmac

[RDU-JFK]

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=j ... &type=lgns (http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=jl-spurstarmac052008&prov=yhoo&type=lgns)

Pretty bizarre:


The team had planned to fly to Los Angeles after the game, but arrived at the airport to find their flight had mechanical problems. With a cable convention crowding the city’s hotel rooms, the team couldn’t find any place to spend the night.

Some of the players slept on the plane while others moved to buses on the tarmac.

[Gerard]

I heard Mike Francesca rant about this on FAN this afternoon. He said the company the Spurs used is going out of business at the end of the month and it was total lunacy to have this Million dollar franchise fly in a plane with a company that essentially could care less. He said they should have used Marquiss jets or Netjets.

[cancidas]

I heard Mike Francesca rant about this on FAN this afternoon. He said the company the Spurs used is going out of business at the end of the month and it was total lunacy to have this Million dollar franchise fly in a plane with a company that essentially could care less. He said they should have used Marquiss jets or Netjets.
how does that make any sense? they would need like 10 airplanes! talk about carbon footprint...

[flyguy1]

I heard Mike Francesca rant about this on FAN this afternoon. He said the company the Spurs used is going out of business at the end of the month and it was total lunacy to have this Million dollar franchise fly in a plane with a company that essentially could care less. He said they should have used Marquiss jets or Netjets.

Someone from the industry must have told Francesca about Champion going under, as most people do not follow airlines like we do.

[Matt Molnar]

Champion might be at fault, but why couldn't the team find alternate transport? They're in the playoffs for chrissakes, spend the $$$.

[moose135]

Champion might be at fault, but why couldn't the team find alternate transport? They're in the playoffs for chrissakes, spend the $$$.
Read one article that made it sound like this was part of a season-long charter contract the league has with Champion. And for the record, Mike Francesa is a blowhard, stopped listening to him years ago!

[RDU-JFK]

Check out the configuration of the aircraft:

http://www.championair.com/CA56Seat.pdf

[Matt Molnar]

Not a bad place to sleep!