Arizona football: Wildcats will bus to UTEP to save money

It’s a 300+ mile trip

The Arizona Wildcats will be making their first road trip of the season this weekend, traveling to El Paso, Texas to take on the UTEP Miners for a Friday night showdown.

Their method of transportation? The bus.

The Wildcats will take the 317-mile drive — roughly a 4 ¹⁄₂ hour trip — down I-10 to get to El Paso, but then will fly back to Tucson after the game.

Those arrangements “save a little money,” head coach Rich Rodriguez said Monday.

“It’s a little bit of a long ride, but our guys will probably sleep the whole way down,” he said.

It does seem odd that Arizona, a Pac-12 program, is busing to a game that’s more than just a couple hours away.

In an era where recruits’ decisions are often influenced by amenities like uniforms and locker rooms, taking a rather long bus ride to a road game seems like a bad look for an Arizona program that already has enough difficulty attracting high-caliber recruits.

Former Arizona safety Paul Magloire certainly seems surprised by the decision.

https://t.co/ypAv8gQkCv

— Paul Magloire (@P_MAGLOIRE) September 11, 2017

Then again, cutting costs does make some sense for the UA considering the 2015-16 fiscal year was the first time the school’s athletic department failed to profit since 2005.

Plus, the university is expected to continue upgrading its athletic facilities, including multi-million dollar upgrades to Hillenbrand Stadium and Hillenbrand Aquatic Center on top of an indoor practice facility for the football team, which is estimated to cost $15 million by itself.

The good news is that Friday’s game will be broadcast on ESPN, which at least will put Arizona at the forefront of the college football world for a night.

“Moving the game to Friday night I thought was a chance to get on national TV and have something a little bit different,” Rodriguez said.

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Follow Ryan Kelapire on Twitter at @RKelapire

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