UF students hoping to visit Dallas for the Final Four this weekend can make their trip easy with several travel package arrangements.
The Gainesville-based Luxury Travel Institute and the University Athletic Association are providing students with four-day travel packages that include bus tickets and hotel accommodations.
The company has 52 spots open for $339 per person. The trip includes round-trip coach transportation as well as a four-night stay at a hotel. The package also provides transfers from the hotel to Gators pep rallies and the games, said Andy Bailey, the company’s president.
He said he has been running sports-oriented trips since Steve Spurrier was at UF. He said he provides these student packages because the company’s roots are in the university community — Bailey founded the company about 30 years ago while he was a UF student.
“You gotta take care of the people who took care of you,” Bailey said.
The University Athletic Association is also offering packages to students who attended three or more home basketball games this year.
Jonathan Arnholz, vice president of the Men’s Basketball Rowdies, said his organization has been pushing the whole season for a bus package from the UAA if the Gators advanced to the Final Four.
The association delivered with a travel package that includes $30 round-trip bus tickets and hotel rooms at the Hilton Anatole for about $250 per room per night. Rooms can fit up to four students. The package is only eligible for 100 UF students who bought tickets through the student sale, according to a UAA press release.
Eligible students can buy tickets for both the Final Four and the national championship for $40 total, said Alicia Longworth, marketing and promotions assistant athletic director.
Buses for both travel packages will depart Gainesville Thursday night and arrive in Dallas on Friday morning. Students will arrive back to Gainesville on Tuesday after the national championship game Monday.
For students staying in Gainesville, Arnholz said the athletic association will hold a watch party in the Stephen C. O’Connell Center if the Gators advance to the national championship.
Jake Sillick, last season’s president of the Men’s Basketball Rowdies, traveled to the Final Four tournament in 2007 and plans to utilize the UAA’s travel package this year.
The 25-year-old UF computer and electrical engineering major said the students’ presence will give the team a boost.
“I’m out-of-my-mind excited,” Sillick said. “This is something I’ve looked forward to for years.”
[A version of this story ran on page 1 on 4/2/2014 under the headline "Final Four-teen hour drive? Gators plan Dallas trips"]
