Arizona Cardinals Join Private Plane Club
Among high-ticket professional sports teams, it seems that owning private jets may turn into something of a fad. The Arizona Cardinals have just recently become the second team in the NFL to outright buy their own private plane for stylish travel between games. The New England Patriots had already broken the ice on this earlier with their own plane.
The Cardinals’ plane isn’t some little Learjet either. It’s an outright giant, a 200+ foot Boeing 777-200ER aircraft with room for over 280 passengers when used as a commercial airliner. For the several dozen players and key staff of the Cardinals, the liner should be quite comfortable.
According to Cardinals owner, Michael Bidwill in a recent press release from the team,
“It is a major undertaking every time we travel for a game. This aircraft will not only provide major convenience but also maximum comfort for our players when getting them to and from road games. Every NFL team is looking for advantages wherever possible and we think this will certainly provide one.”
Seems perfectly logical and in any case, if the team and their owner can afford the price tag of owning and managing the plane, then why not?
Boston Red Sox – JetBlue Airways
The new Boeing 777-200ER aircraft that the Cardinals can now enjoy has a standard seating capacity for 288 passengers. Of these seats, 166 are oversized for more comfort and a further 48 seats offer business class comfort.
Then for maximum commercial flight luxury, there are 28 first-class pod seats that can be converted into full and very private beds. Very probably, the Cardinals had some of this standard layout modified as part of their purchase.
The new airliner carries the Teams colors and logo along its sides and without a doubt, the players themselves will fully enjoy being able to reach their different U.S.-based destinations in fully team-personalized style.
The plane is the most recent and largest comfort improvement for amenities and services offered to the Cardinals as a professional sports group.
Other Sports Figures with Private Planes
Private planes among major sports teams are nothing new in the business. The Cardinals may only be the second team in the NFL to have their own private plane, but in other major league sports and among major players in the business, it’s almost common.
Dallas Mavericks basketball team’s Boeing 767-256 ‘N801DM’ photo: GeorgeM757
For example, Mark Cuban, billionaire owner of the Dallas Mavericks flies in style with his own private aircraft and made sure that his team can enjoy their own plane too. This is a Boeing 767-256 that’s a fair bit smaller than the Cardinals’ 777-200ER but still quite comfortable.
Then of course there are top players like NBA star LeBron James, who cruises in style with his own Gulfstream G280, and David Beckham, who has his own Bombardier Challenger 350 as a private jet. Cristiano Ronaldo is no exception to this tendency either. He can take to the skies whenever he likes in his own Gulfstream G650. Lionel Messi’s Embraer Legacy 650 is a less common choice for a private plane, but still extremely fine in terms of luxury touches.
As for other sports teams that have their very own private exclusive planes, aside from the Patriots and Cardinals, there are the New York Jets, the Boston Red Sox, Los Angeles Lakers, Boston Celtics and the already-mentioned Dallas Mavericks.
In other countries, major sports teams owning their own private planes is less common. For example, Canada’s NHL players tend to travel charter with commercial carriers. Even in the U.S., 27 out of 30 NBA teams simply move from city to city with customized charter Delta Airlines flights.
Private air charter companies regularly hire out their planes to sports teams and sports fans of all kinds. This alternative to the extremely expensive option of owning your own private plane or the much more inconvenient option of flying commercial has become increasingly popular too.
