People need to realize the cost involved with long travel distances. One or two games maybe, but any more than that takes a toll on finances. The money for these long distance trips comes out of the athletic budget. Drivers are paid by the hour and not just the time spent driving. Say a driver makes $25 an hour(no clue if this is accurate or not) and the school takes 4 buses. The trip is 3 hours away (6 hours total) plus 2.5 for the game. That equals out to $850 for one trip. Three trips in a season will cost $2550. That's a big hit for most departments, especially when it's only travel costs. Some schools feed students after games and that is another $200-300 a game, so almost another $1000. And keep in mind, this is just taking football into consideration. If it affects districts then you also have to factor in volleyball, soccer, baseball, basketball, softball, lacrosse, etc....
Other factors, in AD's minds, are the time that the athletes will be returning and the late hour the buses may be traveling, parents having to be up late waiting on child's return, and student athlete's driving in the late hours, potential on back country roads. Many would also be surprised how many teachers complain about athlete's missing class time to get out early for travel. A three hour bus ride would have kids being dismissed around 2:00 and some schools don't release until 3:30 or later. That equates to missing 1-2 classes depending on the schools period/block schedule.
It's easy to sit back and say that if you have to travel, so be it, but in this day and age, money is king, SOL's are the queen, and whatever would be higher is the parents and their complaints.
