Competition trip Fans, travel agents scramble to find ways to game
By Ja’Rena Lunsford
Published: November 28, 2006
OU'S BERTH to this weekend's Big 12 Championship doesn't just have fans scrambling to prepare for the trip to Kansas City, Mo.
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Travel agents are working overtime to get Sooner fanatics to the game.
Bentley Hedges, owner of Oklahoma City's Bentley Hedges Travel, knew the second the Bedlam game was over he would have work to do.
OU's win over Oklahoma State University coupled with the University of Texas' loss to Texas A&M put the Sooners up for a conference championship and Hedges up for an influx of north-bound fans.
"Ninety percent of people will have their plans knocked out by (today)," Hedges said.
The travel agency is offering a day-trip on a motor coach to the game.
The trip costs $176 a person, or $296 for the trip plus a ticket to the game.
Each bus will take between 40 and 45 people.
Hedges said the first bus is about 70 percent sold out.
"We're starting out with one motor coach, and we'll just add them as they fill," Hedges said.
He expects to start filling a second bus today. The chaos of getting fans to Kansas City for a short-notice game doesn't compare with the confusion of finding fans a place to stay once they get there.
Hotel rooms, especially those close to the stadium, almost are as coveted as tickets to the game itself.
"I haven't been able to find anything up there," said Carol Lang-Drapala, travel agent with University American Travel in Norman.
"You would think those Texas people would have given up their rooms Saturday when they saw that we won (against OSU)."
The Longhorns and the University of Nebraska Cornhuskers were the predicted teams to go head-to-head Saturday.
Instead, OU will battle the Cornhuskers — a battle that has spread from the football field to the hospitality field.
"The good hotels were already taken up by Nebraska," Hedges said.
Mary Kaye Park, manager of Journey House Travel in Norman, said most hotel rooms close to Arrowhead Stadium are sold, and the ones far from the stadium quickly are being reserved.
"One (hotel room) I quoted this morning wasn't available this afternoon," Park said.
Park said she had some luck booking fans in hotels in suburban areas, such as Overland Park, Kan.
She said rooms rates are from $60 to $300 a night, but those probably won't last much longer either.
"Probably Wednesday it will be slim to none," Park said.
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"I haven't been able to find anything up there. You would think those Texas people would have given up their rooms Saturday when they saw that we won (against OSU)." Carol Lang-Drapala, University American Travel
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