Minnesota United players didn’t wear special glasses to gaze at the sky when the solar eclipse captivated the nation on Aug. 21.

As the rare celestial event traveled coast to coast for the first time in nearly a century, the Major League Soccer players were mired in the boring, constricted routines of standard air travel, heading home after a game in Seattle.

The morning after the Loons’ gut-wrenching 2-1 loss to the defending MLS Cup champion Sounders, the club bused 15 miles south from the team’s downtown hotel to the bustling Sea-Tac Airport. Players and staff members unloaded bags at the front-door group check-in, grabbed their tickets for Delta Flight 2149 and navigated TSA security lines — shoe removals and all.

When the eclipse reached its max at 10:21 a.m., albeit a partial covering in Seattle, the Loons were just killing time in the S terminal for an hour before their departure back to the Twin Cities.

Rookie forward Abu Danadi perused cleat designs on his laptop, while veteran midfielder Ethan Finlay wormed into an opening at the cellphone charging station.

In the food court, a half-dozen Loons players, including midfielders Kevin Molino and Sam Cronin, and goalkeeper Bobby Shuttleworth, chilled at one end of hastily pulled-together tables. At the opposite side, four men in jeans and T-shirts seemed unmoved by their happenstance location next to professional athletes.

One burly, bearded man was shoulder-to-shoulder with skinny Molino. They didn’t make small talk, but they had something in common: About 13 hours earlier, they both watched Seattle’s Clint Dempsey, a U.S. national team player, convert a penalty kick late in extra time to boost the Sounders over United. Related Articles September 19, 2020 Houston Dynamo scores twice in 2nd half to tie Minnesota United

September 18, 2020 Minnesota United acquires striker Kei Kamara in trade with Colorado

September 17, 2020 New Loons star Emanuel Reynoso brings his lifelong ‘fight’ to fresh start in Minnesota

September 17, 2020 Loons acquire backup goalkeeper Adrian Zendejas from Nashville

September 14, 2020 Minnesota United’s injury list won’t shrink much in near future

“It’s kind of weird,” said the man, who declined to share his name. “They are part of the team we were rooting against last night.”

In the Pacific Northwest, arguably the country’s soccer hotbed, it is common knowledge that MLS teams travel on commercial flights to most away matches during their eight-month season. This protocol pales in comparison to how nearly every other Minnesota pro and major college team travels to away games.

CHARTERED STANDARD

While United FC shares flights with all types of travelers, the Vikings charter their own flights via Delta and go through TSA screening at Winter Park, the team’s practice facility in Eden Prairie. They then ride on secure buses, which are escorted to the tarmac and their specific gate at Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport’s Terminal 1.

The Timberwolves also book Delta, but board at Signature Flight Support, a separate private terminal for businesses and individual clients just off the beaten path between MSP’s Terminal 1 and 2 on the MSP campus.

The Wild and Twins charter flights on Boeing 757s, which have been custom-fitted to include all first-class seats. They also slip in and out of Signature.

The Gophers football team takes chartered flights through Sun Country Airlines. They go through security procedures at the Gibson-Nagurski Football Complex in Dinkytown and then bus to airline’s hanger for departure.

The university’s flights have coach seating throughout, and 160 of the 162 spots are occupied by players and staff. Unlike pro teams headed to major cities, the chartered flights allow the U more direct, convenient movement through smaller airports in rural towns like State College, Pa., when they play Penn State. No public money is used for these air travel expenses, a school spokesman said.

Like Minnesota United, the Lynx travel on commercial flights. They have no preferred airline, undergo regular TSA procedures and board planes through standard gates in main terminals.

Timberwolves and Gophers reps couldn’t recall when their teams started taking chartered flights. A Wild official said they flew on a few commercial flights during their inaugural season, in 2000-01, but believe they’ve taken chartered flights ever since.

As pro teams continually seek competitive advantages, the way they travel has evolved.

In early August, the Patriots became the first NFL team to purchase and own two of their own planes, Boeing 767s. You can’t miss their digs — the new plane they flew to their Thursday Nigh Football game in early October was replete in team colors and had their five Super Bowl trophies painted on the tail.

The #AirKraft, a hashtag pun involving owner Robert Kraft, features all first-class seats, with an extra five inches of leg room for each. Head rests are embroidered with Patriots logos and players’ numbers.

WINNING PERCENTAGE

As Kraft’s Pats are 3-0 in road games this season, his MLS franchise, the New England Revolution, is the only MLS team without a road win entering the regular season’s final weekend.

The Revs are 0-13-3 away from Gillette Stadium, while the Loons are 3-11-2 on the road heading into their season finale at San Jose at 3 p.m. Sunday.

So far this season, MLS teams on average have won 20 percent of away games, which is at least about 20 percent lower than the other major sports leagues in their previous full seasons. The WNBA, which has same travel routines, saw road teams win 40 percent of games in 2017.

“A lot of it is a mind-set,” United coach Adrian Heath said. “… I don’t like to use any excuses. You prepare as best we can. We deal with what everybody else does.”

For MLS and the players, their collective bargaining agreement says the league and its clubs have no obligation to provide chartered flights, but clubs can provide up to four chartered legs per year. That doesn’t account for when weather forces late cancelations of flights, for which charters can be provided. Bad weather forced D.C. United to take a chartered flight to Minnesota on the same day the Loons won 4-0 at TCF Bank Stadium on July 29.

Finlay, a member of the MLS Players Union’s Executive Board, wants to work toward improved travel throughout the league.

“I think it gives us credibility if we want to be a major five (league),” said Finlay, a six-year MLS veteran and former U.S. national team player. “All major fours are doing it … so as we push to be a major five, I think it’s naturally the next step.”

An ESPN poll of 140 anonymous MLS players in March asked: “If you were commissioner for a day, what would be the one thing you would change?”

Chartered flights was the second-most-popular answer at 18 percent — behind higher salaries. In 2016, only 5 percent of players called for charters.

The benefits of chartered fights mean teams can set their own departure times and not be beholden to previously set airline schedules. All flights are subject to weather delays, but a domino effect hits more commercial flights. Flying commercial often requires MLS clubs to depart a couple days before a game and they then must wait until the day after a game before heading home or to the next leg on their road trip. Commercial flights also entail waiting in terminals for departures as well as hanging out before connecting flights in other cities.

Before a midseason trade to Minnesota, Finlay said his old club, the Columbus Crew, had connecting flights on about 30 to 40 percent of trips. “That makes for a long day,” he said. “It might only be three (hours) of flying but it ends up being a seven-hour day.”

When he coached in Orlando, Heath said a chartered flight to Seattle saved the club an estimated 14 hours of down time.

The MLS CBA says clubs should make “reasonable efforts” to fly without connections, but smaller markets and airports have to make more. Sporting Kansas City has connections to reach four opponents: Columbus, Montreal, San Jose and Vancouver. United is able to schedule the vast majority of its flights without connections.

The CBA also wants to ensure players are given aisle or window seats on flights.

“As a staff member, you never wanted to be caught sitting in an aisle seat when a player that is a foot taller than you is cramped in the middle somewhere,” said Jonathan Kaplan, Sporting KC’s digital and communications manager.

United forward Christian Ramirez, who is 6-foot-2, has achieved a higher flight status with Delta and had the extra leg room on the flight out to Seattle. He said he sometimes gives up his enviable spot to veterans or foreign players unfamiliar with the rigors of travel in U.S.

The league cites a desire for competitive balance in its flight restrictions, so deep-pocketed clubs can’t fly charter while small-market teams are stuck with commercial. It also levels the playing field for clubs like the Portland Timbers, so their sponsorship deal with Alaska Airlines doesn’t reap added flight perks.

MLS commissioner Don Garber has said the travel stipulations also are a matter of priorities, mainly clubs’ investment in youth academies given higher billing.

“Its one of those things: We all want everything,” said Lauren Hayes, an MLS spokesperson. “But in the grand scope of things, when we are taking a look at where the investment has to go and should go and developing the game overall, in the U.S and Canada, what is going to be the most impactful in the long run?”

Per requirements to join the 22-year-old league this season, United started two youth teams over the summer, in the under-13 and U14 age brackets. They plan to add U15, U17 and U19 teams in coming years. The goal is develop a few players who climb the ranks to join the Loons in MLS.

While the current CBA runs through January 2020, a push for charter flights could continue to grow. “I think it eventually will come in,” Heath said. “How long we have to wait, I don’t know.”

‘WITH EVERYDAY JOES’

When Landon Donovan flew with the Los Angeles Galaxy last season, the former U.S. national team star wore sunglasses and a baseball cap in an effort to remain anonymous in airports and on flights. An L.A. Times story last season said then-coach Bruce Arena asked players not to wear Galaxy gear at airports.

But Minnesota United players, like the majority in MLS, wore team-issued polo shirts and were gracious in meeting fans’ requests for autographs and photos when spotted before their flight to Seattle on Aug. 18.

Kyle Kellner, of Carver, Minn., was wearing a United T-shirt when he spotted a few Loons milling about the F terminal before he and his wife Steph headed to Niagara Falls for their wedding anniversary. The Kellners wanted to get a sports-related gift for their sons, Alex, 6, and Owen, 4, from their getaway, so Kyle rushed to the gift shop to buy a United shirt for the players to sign with a black Sharpie.

“I think we nailed it,” said Kyle, whose family shares a season-ticket package for Loons games at TCF Bank Stadium.

The surprise of seeing United players in the airport didn’t come as a total shock. “I’m big enough of a fan, so I know they fly commercial, but it’s still different,” Kyle said. “I don’t want to say you idolize them, but you hold them to a higher stature — and here they were with everyday Joes.”

On the flight, United coach Adrian Heath wore a gray sweatshirt loosely tied around his neck sitting in his window seat, 21A. He reclined 20 minutes in, sipped his coffee and watched the movie “Wilson.” Meanwhile, two rows up, diehard Vikings fan Ed Kruger wore a purple cape as he sat in his aisle seat, 19F.

The Rochester man and his sister, Sara Butruff, were headed to the Vikings’ preseason game against the Seahawks that night at CenturyLink Field. He didn’t know Minnesota had an MLS club nor that they would be playing in the same stadium two days later.

“I also was surprised they were on the same flight, and they weren’t sitting in front,” Kruger said.

When the flight landed, professional autograph hounds with black-and-blue mini soccer balls and shiny silver markers pounced on United players at baggage claim. All Loons signed before they grabbed their individual luggage off the carousel.

Each player pulled two roller bags. Even veterans like Brazilian Ibson, who has played at soccer’s highest levels in Europe, wasn’t above carrying his fair share of the freight.

This is a huge help to equipment manager Ryan Natusch, who had to oversee 51 checked bags on the trip to Seattle.

“When captains and senior players do it … we are lucky to have that,” Natusch said, shaking his head in relief.

United had few surprises or delays on their Seattle trip, but the team’s bus to take them to their downtown hotel was nowhere near baggage claim. They took escalators up and over the car drop-off area, and then down different banks of elevators, around and through a parking ramp to the bus lot.

One airport worker wanted to make small talk. “We’ve had lacrosse teams, softball teams — no famous people yet,” she said. “Are you on TV?”

Goalkeeper Bobby Shuttleworth has built a reputation for toughness in his first season with Minnesota. He has played through a broken nose and returned the next game wearing a facemask. Yet the demands of travel took some getting used to over his nine-year MLS career.

“It’s tough. It really drains on your body,” Shuttleworth said. “… You see a lot of players that come into the league and the first season, they don’t struggle, but they aren’t the same as they are two or three seasons later because they get accustomed to it.”

After their plane touched down in Minnesota with a firm landing in the rain, first-year Loons players Francisco Calvo, of Costa Rica, and Jerome Thiesson, of Switzerland, looked weary as they waited patiently at baggage claim. As soon as their gear arrived, the players disappeared, knowing they would return to the airport for a trip to Chicago in four short days.