The Federal Aviation Administration stopped air traffic across the United States for more than four hours Friday, creating chaos for dozens of teams traveling to games across various sports.
With a busy slate of college football and basketball games scheduled for the weekend, along with NBA games, NHL games and a full NFL Sunday, the stoppage put plans at risk as teams scrambled to figure out ways to get to their respective destinations.
U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy said “instability” in communications impacting air traffic control centers forced the ground stop, which began just before 4 p.m. ET and lasted until a little after 8 p.m.
Many teams had already arrived at their respective destinations before the stoppage. But others were forced to consider alternate travel methods after being unable to fly as scheduled.
In college football, No. 2 Utah, No. 6 Texas, No. 8 Tennessee and No. 19 Ole Miss were among those whose travel for Saturday games was impacted. No. 19 Ole Miss’ travel situation was precarious enough that the SEC moved its game at Oklahoma to Sunday, over the Sooners’ “strong objection.” Amid the temporary uncertainty, teams including Auburn and North Texas decided to take to the road in buses.
Among NBA teams, the Brooklyn Nets were moments away from taking off from the New Orleans airport when the ground halt went into effect. They are scheduled to play in Memphis on Saturday.
One of the biggest early-season showdowns in women’s college basketball — No. 1 South Carolina vs. No. 3 Southern California — was briefly imperiled after Trojans coach Lindsay Gottlieb told The Athletic the team hadn’t made it out of Los Angeles. The semi-neutral-site game is set for a 1 p.m. tipoff Sunday in Greenville, S.C., so the Trojans had cushion to account for the travel woes. But instead of having the opportunity to practice in Greenville on Saturday morning, they now plan to fly that day.
Here’s how the sports world has been affected:
College football
Many of the nation’s top college football teams had already arrived at their respective destinations for Saturday’s games before the stoppage, although travel plans for more than a dozen teams were impacted, according to program sources and public updates from the schools.
Several schools took off before the ground stop, including Florida, Nebraska, USC, Texas Tech, Wake Forest, Missouri and South Carolina, according to program sources and public information from teams.
Alabama reportedly took a bus to Nashville, Tenn., where the Crimson Tide are scheduled to play Vanderbilt. Auburn (at Mississippi State), Purdue (at Iowa) and North Texas (at UTSA) also opted to take buses to their games after their flights were grounded.
The travel disruption led to several Saturday kick times being moved, including four games in the Big 12 and the Ole Miss-Oklahoma game getting pushed to Sunday.
The latter was not without controversy. In a statement released late Friday night, Oklahoma athletic director Roger Denny said the SEC told the school that if the school didn’t play Sunday, it would result in a forfeit.
“Put simply, this decision isn’t fair to our athletes, our institution, or to Sooner Nation,” Denny said in his statement.
An ACC official confirmed that every visiting team in the league was able to make it to its destination. All Big Ten game officials were on site and available for Saturday’s games, a league spokesperson said. The only games facing issues were Washington-Michigan State and Minnesota-Penn State. A Pac-12 official also said the conference was in good shape for game officials.
But another Power 4 conference official said Friday afternoon that they were still working to figure out if referees will be able to make it to their games.
Here’s a look at various teams’ travel plans, per public statements and program sources:
ACC
All ACC schools made it to their destinations.
Big 12
Arizona State: Grounded attempting to get to UCF. Expecting to leave Saturday morning for noon arrival in Orlando, Fla. Kickoff moved from 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 pm ET on ESPNU.
Baylor: Grounded attempting to fly to No. 10 BYU. The game will move from 3:30 p.m. ET to 7 p.m. ET on Fox.
Cincinnati: Made it to Iowa State. Kickoff still scheduled for noon ET on TNT and HBO Max.
Houston: Played at Colorado on Friday night.
Kansas: Made it to West Virginia. Kickoff moved from 5:30 p.m. ET to 3:30 p.m. ET on ESPN2.
Kansas State: Grounded attempting to fly to TCU. Game time will remain 2 p.m. ET.
Texas Tech: Took off for Oklahoma State before the stoppage. Kickoff still scheduled for 9:30 p.m. ET on ESPN.
Utah: Still on campus at time of stoppage. Attempted to leave for No. 23 Arizona on Friday night but was told by its airline that all pilots were timed out for the day. The Utes were trying to travel Friday night but couldn’t make it a reality. Kickoff has been moved from 7:30 p.m. ET to 10:30 p.m. ET.
Big Ten
Illinois: Played at No. 4 UCLA on Friday night.
Michigan: Arrived at No. 16 Oregon on Thursday.
Minnesota: Grounded attempting to fly to Penn State. Flying to State College on Saturday. Game is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET
Nebraska: Made it to Rutgers.
Northwestern: Made it to No. 20 Ohio State.
Purdue: Now busing to No. 15 Iowa.
No. 18 USC: Landed for matchup at No. 9 Indiana.
Washington: Grounded attempting to fly to Michigan State. Returned to campus. Planned to fly out Friday night. Game will kick off at 5:30 p.m. ET on BTN.
Wisconsin: Landed for matchup against Maryland.
SEC
No. 3 Alabama: Reportedly busing to Nashville against Vanderbilt.
Auburn: Grounded. Now taking a bus to Mississippi State. Kickoff moved from noon ET to 4:15 p.m. ET. Network TBD.
Florida: Made it to No. 6 Kentucky.
No. 22 Missouri: Landed for matchup against No. 2 Georgia.
No. 19 Ole Miss: Grounded attempting to fly to Oklahoma. Game rescheduled for 1 p.m. ET Sunday. Television network is to be determined.
No. 17 South Carolina: Made it to Arkansas.
No. 8 Tennessee: Grounded attempting to fly to Texas A&M. Returned to team facility. Flew out late Friday night. Kickoff still slated for 3 p.m. ET on ESPN.
*Now* we’re Bayou Bound pic.twitter.com/LXqOgg8sOk
— Texas Football (@TexasFootball) November 14, 2026
No. 6 Texas: After being grounded attempting to fly to No. 21 LSU and returning to the team facility, boarded a plane late Friday night.
Group of 6
Colorado State: Grounded attempting to fly to Washington State. Planned to fly out Friday night.
Tulane: Grounded attempting to fly and then bused to Houston to play Rice. Kickoff moved from 2 p.m. ET to 4:30 p.m. ET on ESPN+.
San Jose State: Made it to the runway for matchup against Air Force, had to turn around.
North Dakota State: Made it to Hawaii.
FAU: Grounded attempting to fly to Tulsa. Planning to fly Saturday morning. Kickoff moved from 3:30 p.m. ET to 7:15 p.m. ET.
James Madison: Made it to UConn.
North Texas: Planned to fly out. Instead took a bus to UTSA.
UNLV: Grounded attempting to fly to New Mexico. Returned to campus, but planned to fly late Friday night.
Oregon State: Was grounded attempting to fly to Boise State but boarded a plane late Friday night.
— Grace Raynor and Chris Vannini
NBA
Six NBA teams were scheduled to fly Friday afternoon or after their games Friday night for games on Saturday.
The Brooklyn Nets, who are scheduled to play at the Memphis Grizzlies on Saturday, were seated on the team plane on the runway in New Orleans on Friday afternoon. The ground stop went into effect minutes before the plane was to take off. The Nets stayed over after beating the Pelicans on Wednesday and practiced Friday before their scheduled departure. The team decided to fly out Saturday morning.
The Detroit Pistons flew to Miami a little earlier Friday and landed just before 5 p.m.
The Cleveland Cavaliers, Chicago Bulls and Grizzlies played Friday night and had flights scheduled to leave immediately afterward. The Cavs and Bulls will instead fly Saturday morning. The Cavs’ opponent, the Dallas Mavericks, already made it to Cleveland. The Cavs plan to fly home Saturday. The Mavericks traveled before the ground stop Friday. The Bulls will fly out Saturday morning for the second leg of a back-to-back with Minnesota.
Like with other leagues, referee availability could also be affected. Unlike the teams in the NBA, which fly chartered planes, referees fly commercially. If the officials assigned to games Saturday are caught up by the ground stop, they aren’t guaranteed to get to their destinations even after the hold on flights was lifted Friday evening.
By league rule, teams must leave for the city where they will play next at least one day before that game, unless they were playing the previous night.
Still, the stoppage was lifted early enough that exceptions could be made and the league wouldn’t have any issues playing its Saturday games as scheduled. — Joe Vardon
NHL
The NHL has 14 games scheduled for Saturday, and as of 5 p.m. ET Friday, there were no reports of teams being stranded or delayed.
The Winnipeg Jets (at Chicago), Detroit Red Wings (at Tampa Bay), New Jersey Devils (at Washington) Ottawa Senators (at Pittsburgh), Colorado Avalanche (at Montreal), Florida Panthers (at St. Louis), Philadelphia Flyers (at Columbus), Minnesota Wild (at Boston), Buffalo Sabres (at Dallas) and Calgary Flames (at Los Angeles) made it to their destinations before the shutdown.
The San Jose Sharks were cleared to fly Friday night for their game against the Mammoth in Utah on Saturday.
The Seattle Kraken and Carolina Hurricanes have a game Saturday in Finland, while the Edmonton Oilers traveled within Canada to Toronto for Saturday’s game. The New York Islanders, set to play the Anaheim Ducks on Saturday, were already in Southern California after a game against the Los Angeles Kings.
The NHL had two games Friday night: the New York Rangers at Vancouver, and Nashville at Vegas. The Vancouver Canucks need to make it to Las Vegas for a game Sunday, while the Nashville Predators play at San Jose on Sunday. The Rangers do not play again until Monday, at home.
Still unknown is how the issue might impact game officials who travel commercially. — Rich Hammond
NFL
NFL teams typically travel on Saturdays for Sunday games. Teams going from one coast to the other can leave on Friday to better acclimate to the time zone change, but this Sunday’s slate does not have any such games. The Los Angeles Chargers play in Baltimore against the Ravens on “Monday Night Football,” but the Chargers have planned to travel east Sunday morning, The Athletic’s Noah Furtado reported.
Sources with five teams contacted Friday night each said their travel plans remained unchanged. The NFL did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Sunday night’s game between the Cincinnati Bengals and Pittsburgh Steelers represents the shortest distance between opponents this weekend. Cincinnati is about 290 miles away from Pittsburgh, which hosts the AFC North battle. — Jonathan Jones
College basketball
One of the biggest early-season showdowns in women’s college basketball — No. 1 South Carolina vs. No. 3 Southern California — was at least partially affected by the ground stop.
The Trojans did not make it out of Los Angeles on Friday, head coach Lindsay Gottlieb told The Athletic. The semi-neutral-site game is set for a 1 p.m. tipoff Sunday in Greenville, S.C., so USC still had plenty of time to get where it needed to be. But it was a disruption nonetheless: The Trojans had planned on practicing in Greenville on Saturday morning. Instead, they will stay in Los Angeles Friday night and plan to travel on Saturday.
The men’s college basketball schedule doesn’t have many marquee games slated for Saturday. The biggest one — LSU at No. 14 Gonzaga — was unaffected since the Tigers flew into Spokane, Wash., on Thursday. — Brian Hamilton
Soccer
The U.S. men’s soccer team’s match against Haiti on Saturday in Miami won’t be affected, a spokesperson for Concacaf told The Athletic.
Both teams and match officials are already in Miami for the Concacaf Nations League match. The U.S. team’s flight from Atlanta touched down just before the FAA issued the nationwide ground stop. “Everyone is already on-site, and the match will proceed as scheduled,” the spokesperson said.
The ground stop did impact the Kansas City Current, however. The NWSL squad was scheduled to fly to New York City on Friday for its playoff semifinal against Gotham FC on Sunday.
The team planned to charter Friday evening and boarded a plane shortly before the ground stop, according to a source with knowledge of the Current’s travel plans. The team deplaned after it became clear the delay was indefinite.
“We are collaborating with key stakeholders, including the NWSL and our charter partner, to identify next steps in order to arrive safely ahead of our match against Gotham FC on Sunday,” the spokesperson said.
The Utah Royals, who will face the Washington Spirit in the other semifinal, at noon ET on Saturday, traveled Thursday and were not impacted by the nationwide ground stop. — Henry Bushnell and Emily Olsen
Source: www.nytimes.com
