The Federal Aviation Administration’s decision to ground all flights nationwide Friday sent college and professional sports teams scrambling as they traveled to games over the weekend.
The FAA cited communication problems at regional air traffic control centers, saying the ground stop was imposed “due to extraordinary circumstances and reasons for safety,” The Associated Press reported. The announcement came at around 4:15 p.m. Eastern time on what is typically a busy travel day for college football teams, which customarily fly on Fridays ahead of their Saturday games.
There was no timeline for restarting flights, the AP reported. Depending on how long it lasts, NFL teams scheduled to travel Saturday ahead of their Sunday games also could be affected.
College, pro teams facing widespread travel issues
While many college teams made it to their destinations that day, media reports and social media posts indicated several teams were dealing with travel issues. The Athletic reported that more than a dozen programs — including No. 2 Utah, No. 6 Texas and No. 8 Tennessee — were affected as of late Friday afternoon. Utah is scheduled to play at Arizona, Texas is playing at LSU in a game with massive College Football Playoff implications and Tennessee is taking on Texas A&M.
The travel issues were wide-ranging. Washington’s football team was sitting in buses awaiting its flight to Michigan State, Fox 13 Seattle reported. Colorado State’s team was grounded ahead of its trip to Washington State, according to The Coloradan. Kansas State, scheduled to play at TCU, also had yet to depart as of Friday afternoon, The Topeka Capital-Journal reported. UNLV was unable to board its charter flight to its game against New Mexico, News 3 in Las Vegas reported.
Mississippi was grounded ahead of its trip to Oklahoma and was expected to meet at its facility at 8 p.m. ET, according to On3. With Auburn’s flight to Mississippi State grounded, the Tigers were instead busing to Starkville, On3 reported.
Five NBA teams were scheduled to fly Friday for Saturday games, the AP reported. The Brooklyn Nets' flight to Memphis was halted Friday in New Orleans, where they had played the Pelicans earlier in the week. Other teams including the Cleveland Cavaliers, Chicago Bulls and Memphis Grizzlies were due to fly Friday night after playing that evening, the AP reported.
In women’s basketball, No. 3 Southern California did not leave for its game Sunday against top-ranked South Carolina in Greenville, S.C., Trojans coach Lindsay Gottlieb told The Athletic.
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