The Ultimate Sports Road Trip
121 out of 121...and counting
From 1998 to 2002, two best friends from western New York state executed a journey which, to their knowledge, has never been accomplished by any sports fan, athlete, broadcaster or sports professional anywhere. They have attended a home game of each and every professional franchise playing in the four major sports.
For the record, that is 121 teams in the NBA, NHL, NFL and MLB, playing in 49 different cities. Today they join us for a Gameops.com Interview and review of some of their travels, with a focus on what caught their eye relating to game operations and entertainment.
What they lack in game operation experience, they made up for with the broadest experience possible in major league sports, that is seeing every team at least once.
Andrew Kulyk and Peter Farrell join us for the March 2003 Gameops.com Interview. This interview was conducted in two parts over the phone. Much of the conversation was with Andrew, but for the purposes of this interview, their responses will be labeled Sports Road Trippers unless otherwise noted.
Please also note we have attempted to fill this interview with relevant links when possible. Unlined text are links to additional information, both in the the text of the interview and at the end of the story in the additional information notes.
Gameops.com: Let's start by hearing a little more about the two of you.
Sports Road Trippers: We are a duo we call the Ultimate Sports Road Trippers, made up of me (Andrew) and Peter. We know there are several road trippers out there and we love interacting with them. We think we are unique in that we have attended a home game of each of the 121 professional sports franchises in the four major sports in their current active venues. When teams move or are relocated during our tour, we have hopped back out to their new venue. That happened recently with both the New Orleans Hornets and Memphis Grizzlies. We began in mid-1988 and finished Dec 15, 2002 at Ford Field in Detroit.
Gameops.com: So now when a team relocates and moves next year, like Philadelphia Eagles next year, will you be keeping up to date?
Sports Road Trippers: Yes, in fact we are going to start it off in April at the Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati. There are shovels in the ground on 9 new stadiums and arenas in the 3 major sports....and as they open, we will be visiting. Of course we are keeping our eye on the Charlotte NBA situation and the Montreal MLB situation, so if a team moves, we will be there. It's the trip that never ends.
Gameops.com: So what's in this for you. Is it purely being a fan, or should we be looking forward to a book coming out?
Sports Road Trippers: Funny you mention that, hopefully there is a book coming out. So far, we have not received any revenue from this, it has just cost us out of our pocket and we do it because we are big fans. For example, our web site (www.thesportsroadtrip.com) is just a fan site, with our story and notes. We don't sell advertising or shirts or anything like that. As a result, our tour has received a lot of media exposure. For example, just today we had a big one-two punch. This morning we were on the "Today Show" on NBC and we were also in this weeks Sports Illustrated Magazine with a nice article. That's two major national outlets the same week.
Gameops.com: And now biggest of all...Gameops.com.
Sports Road Trippers: We were actually excited that you wanted to talk with us, since making contact at the teams is really helpful. When you know people there or they know of you, it may help with credentials or a tour of the building, which is really helpful for our tour.
Gameops.com: Let's run down the list of some of the questions. You are familiar that our focus is on sports entertainment and operations. What we focus on is the action in each venue that isn't really the sport. We like to spread the word about great promotions. It's always been our belief that a great idea in minor league soccer somewhere can be great for a major league baseball team, so we like to spread the word on great promotions
In baseball, we really like the add-ons to the 7th inning stretch, things that make the song more special. The first and best example is at Wrigley Field with the ghost of Harry Carey. No one leaves their seats and people all watch to see what celebrity will be there to sing the song. Some teams now add a song that is locally relevant to the area. For example, the Houston Astros now play
"Deep in the Heart of Texas" after "Take me out," everyone sings and claps along. It's germane to the area. In Milwaukee, they do the beer barrel polka. I love it when the whole crowd is into it singing along. I love the add-on songs.
Gameops.com: How about fan-friendly, were there venues that stood out for being more or less fan-friendly?
Sports Road Trippers: Superior customer service was a focus for us and we talk about it a lot on our web site reviews. We looked at game-day staff and staff courtesy. We feel strongly that people spend a lot of money and it's a big deal for 
some families, then when the kids try to get down in pre-game to see the players up close or to see the bullpen, you have a harsh usher asking for a ticket and they don't allow anyone to move around.
Our local team, the Buffalo Sabres, is pretty flexible
Sports Road Trippers: I'd have to think about the best, but I can tell you the worst off the top of my head. Atlanta. Of course they have a wretched basketball team and hockey team, but when a team gets to the World Series year in and year out, and you can get an in-field seat to the NLCS on the day of the game, that's a sad statement. I know the Falcons did better. It's a nice city, clean downtown, but they don't seem to be into their pro sports franchisees much. Plus they have great facilities like Phillips Arena and Turner Field.
Some of the best, I would start with some of the one sport towns like Green Bay. Game day there the city closes down, its a really special situation. They are really good to their fans too. The team is very woven into the fabric of the community. Great tailgating too.
Houston is also a great sports town. We have kind of adopted that as our second sports home. We have had a great time there.
