Eric Barker has by no means identified his older brother to do something half-heartedly.
So when Michael knowledgeable Eric and the remainder of the household that he deliberate to journey to 100 school soccer video games throughout the 2024 season — an accepted if not formally acknowledged world document — Eric wasn’t all that shocked.
“He’s type of an excessive man,” Eric mentioned.
“Final yr, I did 90 (video games),” Michael mentioned. “(This yr was) 100 video games or bust.”
The elder Barker — who runs the favored X account, “Faculty Soccer Campus Tour” — hit the century mark earlier this month when he made his solution to the Division III nationwide championship recreation in Houston, recent off a visit to Nassau for the Bahamas Bowl. He celebrated the milestone with a selfmade signal and a late-night journey to Bucee’s, the place he grabbed his favourite breakfast burrito and a rhino taco earlier than heading to Frisco for the FCS nationwide championship recreation the subsequent day. Recreation No. 101.
100 video games in a single season 🍾
Respect each single one in all you for supporting my journey to a brand new world document 👊 pic.twitter.com/1QXKMpFkZ1
— Faculty Soccer Campus Tour (@cfbcampustour) January 6, 2025
On the heels of catching each Faculty Soccer Playoff semifinal video games final week, Barker is lastly dwelling in California this week for the primary time since catching a 5:30 a.m. flight on Dec. 26. However school soccer’s most well-traveled fan is headed proper again out Sunday for Monday night time’s nationwide championship recreation in Atlanta to place an exclamation level on his 104th recreation of the season.
“I grew up in a professional (sports activities) home,” Barker mentioned of cheering for the San Francisco 49ers as a child. “(However) school soccer actually had all of the issues I wished and I simply didn’t perceive it. And once I did, I went full pressure — clearly.”
This all began form of by chance.
In 2017, Barker, seeking to embrace solo journey and see extra of the USA, booked a visit to Lake Estes, Colo., to remain at The Stanley Resort, the inspiration for Stephen King’s “The Shining.” Barker informed his mother on the time that he was afraid to journey alone however knew the journey could be good for him, so he took the leap.
On the best way to the resort, Barker deliberate a cease at Colorado State’s campus. Though his father didn’t discuss a lot about his school soccer profession, Curt Barker performed one season at BYU and two on the College of the Pacific in Stockton, Calif. Barker remembered his dad telling him that among the finest video games he ever performed was at Colorado State, so Barker deliberate to make a pit cease there and on the College of Colorado in Boulder.
“I simply actually loved going across the campus at every of them,” Barker mentioned. “And once I acquired to the resort, it was simply on my mind. So I stayed on the resort for — it was purported to be two nights and I minimize it quick and did one night time. Earlier than I left the realm, I finished at Wyoming and I finished at Air Pressure in Colorado Springs.
“I acquired dwelling and was like, ‘Man, I actually take pleasure in stopping at campuses.’”
That summer season, Barker visited faculties in Arizona, Oregon and Washington earlier than reserving a three-week journey to see 99 completely different campuses from Miami to Maine to Minnesota to Texas and finally again to California.
It was solely pure, he mentioned, that he begin trying out soccer stadiums the next fall.
“He simply type of fell in love with the stadiums themselves, the historical past, the outdated ones,” Eric Barker mentioned. “So it was type of a pure development.”
Barker, an actual property appraiser, began small (by his requirements) and attended 13 video games throughout the 2017 soccer season, a median of about one per week. He elevated it to 30 in 2018 and 50 in 2019. Through the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, he nonetheless managed to see 42 video games. And between the spring and fall seasons of 2021, he made 81 journeys.
Final season, he upped the ante to 90 video games, pushing himself to what he thought was most capability.
However when his social media followers delivered some good-old-fashioned peer stress and inspired him to see if he might hit 100 in 2024, Barker realized {that a} longer common season and the expanded Faculty Soccer Playoff would make the purpose possible.
“The folks — Twitter — requested for it,” he mentioned. “And I wished to ship.”
Baker has now seen video games in any respect 134 FBS packages and has been to 95 of 129 FCS colleges — holding a “mushy spot,” for FCS stadiums and groups.
The funding has largely come from his financial savings account, with Barker admitting that the COVID-19 pandemic damage his earnings when rates of interest reached such low ranges that owners had no incentive to refinance their properties. Refinances comprised about 80 % of his value determinations.
He additionally has a partnership with TickPick that has helped him land obstructed-view tickets, which can be a beloved a part of his model as he visits numerous stadiums. He estimates he has spent solely $300 on tickets all season because of some colleges offering a media credential and likewise the generosity of his followers on social media.
Finally, he is aware of he’ll both want to earn more money in actual property or beef up his company sponsorships if he needs to maintain this going.
However for now, it really works, because of his financial savings and a really particular set of self-mandated guidelines.
“No parking, no airport meals, no concessions,” he mentioned.
Oh, and that is the massive one: no inns, both.
“In case you go to 100 video games, $150 an evening resort, let’s say, you save $15,000 if you happen to don’t do a resort,” he mentioned. “In case you can stand up to the glamour life, you get the reward.”
Barker mentioned the very first thing he does when he arrives in a metropolis is seek for “grocery shops close to me” on his mobile phone so he can load up on protein bars and wholesome snacks to keep away from having to eat stadium meals. He spoke to The Athletic from a Goal car parking zone in Texas.
If he doesn’t get a media parking move, he’ll usually enterprise a mile or two away from the stadium and stroll to keep away from paying for parking. On the nights when he isn’t headed straight to the airport, he’ll usually sleep in his rental automobile in a truck cease car parking zone, sometimes at a Love’s or Buc-ee’s, and stroll over to seize a espresso the subsequent morning.
He additionally has a Planet Health membership. For $24 a month, he can sustain along with his train routine at any facility within the nation and likewise benefit from the free WiFi and showers.
If and when Barker must go on to the airport after an evening recreation, he’ll usually sleep within the terminal earlier than heading to his subsequent cease.
Ringing within the new yr at LAX. Rental automobile isn’t accessible till 2:30am. Rose Parade begins 8am #GlamourLife pic.twitter.com/KKAAVBunoZ
— Faculty Soccer Campus Tour (@cfbcampustour) January 1, 2025
Requested about his favourite environment, Barker gave the nod to Texas A&M however shouted out LSU and Ole Miss for his or her tailgating, in addition to the tremendous folks of Iowa who as soon as invited him to play Big Jenga and down beers within the car parking zone at Kinnick Stadium. Montana’s Washington-Grizzly Stadium is a favourite, too, with the mountains within the background, and the crowds at Penn State and Oregon are plain.
Montana has a 233-35 dwelling document since opening Washington-Grizzly Stadium in 1986. This features a 37-7 document in dwelling FCS playoff video games #GoGriz 🐻 pic.twitter.com/CL6wf6ye0a
— Faculty Soccer Campus Tour (@cfbcampustour) July 22, 2024
As for his most memorable stretch on the street, it needed to be this October when he hit six stadiums in 5 days.
“It was a Tuesday night time at New Mexico State, Wednesday night time at UTEP — which is about 45 miles south — after which a 5 a.m. flight into Raleigh-Durham,” he mentioned. “Drove three and a half hours and acquired to Virginia Tech on a Thursday night time. Then flew to Chicago for a Friday night time recreation at Wisconsin-Whitewater, which is a D-III energy.
“After that, there was a Saturday two-for-one. It was 1 p.m. at North Dakota in Grand Forks and it was 7:30 p.m. on the Fargodome, the (Dakota) Marker recreation between South Dakota State and North Dakota State. That required an 11-hour drive from Whitewater to Grand Forks in the course of the night time in a few 14-hour window.”
Barker joked that oftentimes when his mom is interested by his whereabouts, she’ll head over to his X web page for solutions. He retains his followers up to date with pictures and movies from his journeys.
Simply final month, he went from Montana State (Dec. 13) to South Dakota (Dec. 14) to the Frisco Bowl (Dec. 17) to the junior school nationwide championship recreation in Canyon, Texas, (Dec. 18) to the New Orleans Bowl (Dec. 19) to Notre Dame versus Indiana within the first spherical of the Faculty Soccer Playoff (Dec. 20) to Texas versus Clemson on the second day of the primary spherical (Dec. 21) to the Well-known Idaho Potato Bowl (Dec. 23) and, lastly, to the Hawaii Bowl on Christmas Eve.
After 5 overtimes and about 10 hours in Hawaii, he hopped on a red-eye again to San Francisco, the place he landed at 6:30 a.m. native time on Christmas Day then boarded a prepare to Oakland at 8 a.m. to be along with his household. By 9:30 a.m., he’d made it to the Christmas festivities and stayed along with his household for 20 hours earlier than heading out to the Charge Bowl in Phoenix very first thing the subsequent morning. Simply sufficient time to dig into Christmas brunch … and do some laundry from the lone suitcase and backpack he travels with.
“(At first, my relations) have been like, ‘Mike is discovering himself. Let him discover himself,’” Barker mentioned. “And I feel there was a degree virtually the place they wished to say, ‘All proper, are you gonna be performed with this?’ And I’d say within the final 18 months, they’ve purchased in.”
Barker sometimes travels alone as a result of bodily and monetary calls for of his itinerary, however Eric went on one journey along with his older brother in 2019.
The duo went to the Egg Bowl at Mississippi State on a Thursday night time, the place they witnessed the notorious faux urination celebration, then headed as much as Charlottesville, Va., for a Friday recreation that includes Virginia and Virginia Tech earlier than scooting over to Western Kentucky the subsequent day for a rivalry matchup in opposition to Center Tennessee State within the “100 Miles of Hate” rivalry. Eric and Michael capped the journey off with a go to to Vanderbilt for a males’s basketball recreation later that night time, the place Eric walked to seats on the prime of the world and promptly fell asleep.
“I don’t even understand how he does it and the way he survives. He’s type of like a machine,” Eric mentioned.
“He hasn’t come on a visit with me since then,” Michael mentioned.
As the school soccer season involves a detailed subsequent week, when Notre Dame faces Ohio State in Atlanta, Barker will head again to California with blended feelings.
This was a season he’ll always remember with reminiscences he’ll at all times cherish. And he’s hoping to stretch this journey out for not less than two extra years, presumably extra, funds allowing.
However for now, school soccer is over for the subsequent seven-plus months.
“I’ll go dwelling and fake like I’m joyful and am going to do all of the issues once I’m again dwelling,” he mentioned.
“However I’m simply gonna be excited about soccer.”
(Illustration: Dan Goldfarb / The Athletic; pictures courtesy of Michael Barker)