Sports teams around the United States were impacted by a nationwide ground stop that lasted for more than four hours before it was officially lifted by the Federal Aviation Administration at 8:15 p.m. ET Friday.
The ground stop saw several major airports ground all flights starting around 4 p.m. ET Friday afternoon. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy said the stoppage was due to “a communication issue” impacting air traffic controllers.
Duffy said in a Friday night press conference college football teams impacted by the ground stop should contact the FAA about re-scheduling flights.
“We’re going to allow for general aviation, and those larger movements, to take place as a priority. Smaller movements will take a lower priority. So, if you talk about football teams moving, many of those are on charters, and there’s a lot of individuals on those charter planes,” Duffy said Friday. “So I would encourage those football teams to reach out to the FAA to schedule their flight times and make sure they can move, to make sure we have games going on tomorrow.”
ESPN’s Mark Schlabach and Pete Thamel reported at least a dozen Group of 6 teams had yet to depart for Saturday games as of the time of the ground stop.
That included several ranked programs in No. 2 Utah, No. 6 Texas, No. 8 Tennessee and No. 19 Ole Miss, per Schlabach and Thamel.
Oregon State didn’t take off ahead of a Saturday matchup against No. 24 Boise State that is set to be featured on ESPN’s College GameDay, per Schlabach and Thamel.
Both the SEC and Big 12 said they were considering potential changes to Saturday’s schedule. Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger reported changes could include “swapping time slots with other games.”
Multiple Saturday kickoffs had reportedly been pushed back as of Friday night, including UCF’s game at Arizona State, Auburn’s matchup at Mississippi State and Tulane’s contest at Rice.
Professional sports teams were also impacted by the ground stop. The NBA’s Brooklyn Nets were in New Orleans on a plane bound for Memphis but did not take off before flights were halted, per The Athletic’s Joe Vardon.
The Cleveland Cavaliers, Chicago Bulls and Memphis Grizzlies have flights scheduled for after their respective Friday night games, per Vardon. They should now be able to leave as scheduled.
The NHL’s San Jose Sharks were scheduled to travel Friday to Salt Lake City ahead of a Saturday game at the Utah Mammoth but were unable to take off, per the AP’s Josh Dubow.
The biggest immediate sports impact was felt among college football teams preparing to travel for Saturday games. Sports Business Journal’s Matt Fortuna provided a rundown of which teams had their flights impacted.
Some college football teams responded by boarding ground transportation Friday night.
Auburn boarded a bus to play Mississippi State, while Alabama bussed to a matchup against Vanderbilt, per CBS Sports’ Brandon Marcello and Yea Alabama’s Emily Grace McWhorter.
Purdue and North Texas took buses to Iowa and UTSA, respectively, per Thamel. Tulane boarded a bus to Rice, per On3’s Pete Nakos.
Other teams had reportedly ruled out the possibility of bus travel before the ground stop ended Friday night.
Reporters provided updates on other college football teams that deplaned after the ground stop was issued Friday afternoon. Some teams, including Texas and Oregon State, were still reportedly hoping to fly Friday night.
Some teams including Kansas State (2 p.m. ET kickoff at TCU) and Baylor (3:30 p.m. ET kickoff at No. 10 BYU) were ultimately unable to leave Friday night, per Thamel and ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg.
Arizona State (3:30 p.m. ET kickoff at UCF) is planning to take off Saturday morning and arrive at noon ET, per The Athletic’s Bruce Feldman.
Referees could also be delayed by the ground stop. Skretta reported college football officials “typically fly to their assignments the day before games.”
With the ground stop officially coming to an end, it’s unclear how many teams will attempt to fly Friday night versus leaving Saturday morning.
Source: bleacherreport.com
