College World Series: Should you fly or drive to Omaha?
Thousands of fans will head toward the middle of the country for the week and a half-long celebration of college baseball, making for crowded roads and a busy airport in Omaha.
OMAHA, Neb. (KXAN) — It's a family reunion of sorts at this year's College World Series.
Texas baseball booked its second straight trip to Omaha early Monday morning, joining Texas A&M, Oklahoma and Arkansas in the field of eight remaining teams competing for the NCAA baseball national championship.
The Longhorns, Sooners and Aggies are linking up with Notre Dame on one side of the bracket, making for a rivalry-filled week at Charles Schwab Field Omaha. Texas will face Notre Dame, while Texas A&M will face Oklahoma in Friday's first-round games.
The other side of the bracket isn't complete as of Monday morning. Arkansas and Ole Miss booked their spots Sunday. The final two spots will be decided between Stanford/UConn and Oregon State/Auburn. Those games are scheduled for Monday afternoon and evening.
Thousands of fans will head toward the middle of the country for the week and a half-long celebration of college baseball, making for crowded roads and a busy airport in Omaha. The tournament starts Friday, June 17, and ends Monday, June 28 with Game 3 of the national championship series.
Texas fans are used to this Omaha trip as the Longhorns will be making their 38th appearance in the College World Series. Interstate 35 is normally packed with burnt-orange fans, but record-high gas prices may have some fans looking at other options.
Should you fly or drive to Omaha?
It's almost always going to be cheaper to drive when compared with the fees around airfare, baggage and parking. This summer, though, the difference between the two travel options is about $250 to $300.
According to Google Flights, the cheapest roundtrip airfare is an American Airlines flight for $706, departing Austin Thursday morning. The total trip time is about four hours with one stop on the way to Omaha.
There are several other roundtrip flight options in the $800 to $900 range.
The variables change when calculating expenses for an Omaha road trip in the car. The type of vehicle you're taking and where you stop for gas will change the price.
It's 1,680 miles to drive from Austin to Omaha and back home. Let's use the most popular vehicle in Texas as the mode of transportation — the Ford F Series.
You can drive about 500 highway miles on one tank of gas in a new Ford F-150, meaning you'll need to fill up four times to get from your house to the ballpark and back.
The national gas price average is $5, a little bit lower in Texas, so it will cost you an estimated $460 for the full trip.
Here's how the Omaha road trip looks if you're a fan of Texas A&M or Oklahoma.
It's 944 miles from downtown Norman, Oklahoma to the ballpark in Omaha. The Sooners' trip to Omaha would only take two full tanks of gas, so an estimated $230 to drive your Ford F-150 and a seven and a half-hour drive each way.
It's about 1,650 miles roundtrip from College Station to Omaha. The drive would take about 12 and a half hours each way. Similar to Austin — an Aggies fan would need to fill up their truck four times for the full trip, costing about $460.