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nine to 12 months in advance," Mead said. "Others take longer, sometimes two years or more."
One such event for Anthony Travel is the upcoming Navy-Notre Dame football game in Dublin, Ireland, on Sept. 1. The planning has been in the works for three years, and things are just com- ing together after numerous meetings in Dublin with cus- toms, immigration, and police officials, as well as staffers from both schools. "We're flying 10,000 people over," Anthony said. "There will be 200 buses run- ning each day, as well as 50 employ- ees on site taking care of people at more than 100 hotels. We're pro- viding daily tours, private parties, golf outings, and other events. It's a big deal."
When orches- trating such a com- plex event, select- ing an experienced third-party compa- ny like Anthony Travel—which has provided trans- portation manage- ment services for the NBA Finals and All Star
"We're bringing American college football to a stadium that's never hosted a game, and to a country that hasn't hosted one in more than 15 years," Dunn said. "It's on us to build the event from scratch. We want to make sure that everybody
what can and can't be flown oversees— things we take for granted, like drugs for our sports medicine staff and ceremonial rifles for our color guard." But it's not just international events that require extensive pre-planning. Domestic events often have just as many moving parts.
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Games, as well as all five of ESPN's network-owned basketball tournaments—is key, said Robb Dunn, assistant athletic director at the Naval Academy, which will be flying more than a quarter of its 4,000-midship- men brigade to the Dublin game.
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Learn more about Kissimmee's sports facilities at KissimmeeSports.com or contact the Sports Department at the Kissimmee CVB at 800-831-1844 or email Sports@VisitKissimmee.com.
has a good experience." Dunn calls Anthony Travel's part in pulling off Navy's first international game "instrumental," noting that it's been "educational for both schools, as far as
Ingenuity Helps The Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo drew 1.89 million attendees over three weeks this past February and March, and it took TMS more than 120 staffers and 120 buses to accommodate the massive influx of park-and-riders attending the event each day. Pre-planning such a complex system of shuttle routes has gotten somewhat easier for most compa- nies in recent years, Mead said, thanks to the GPS, but there are still glitches that can occur. "Many times, streets are closed during events so that buses can't get in," he said. TMS solved that problem, howev- er, by designing
its own GPS service, which, catered specifically to its needs, takes street clos- ings and traffic patterns into account. "It's really helped with timing our routes, and avoiding congested areas." ■
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