By: Anna Marie Kukec
When Arturo Gomez’s wife was seven months pregnant, he wanted to attend an out-of-town football game.
But that meant the Big Ten die-hard fan would be driving and staying at hotels for days.
His wife gave her blessings for him to attend the game on one condition — that he returned home that same night.
“That’s when I talked to Todd (Rubin) and some others and we secured a plane,” said Gomez, 42.
They flew round trip in one day to the game and Gomez was sleeping in his own bed that night. His wife was happy. And the experience made Gomez and Rubin happy, too, when they moved on the idea to build a transportation business around major sporting events.
A year later, Gomez and Rubin partnered with some private investors to form Big Game Air, a luxury game-day travel experience company with flights through Chicago Executive Airport in Wheeling. The business launches today and aims to capture the avid sports fan who enjoys the game-day experiences without dealing with driving and hotels (CONTINUE READING).