A nationwide ground stop disrupted air travel for millions of Americans, including athletes across major professional sports leagues and college teams scheduled to compete this weekend.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued the ground stop due to "extraordinary circumstances," throwing a curveball at the sports world as teams scrambled to navigate travel disruptions ahead of their games.
GROUND STOP ORDERED BY FAA AT ALL AIRPORTS IN AMERICA DUE TO A 'COMMUNICATION ISSUE'
The disruptions come ahead of a busy weekend of NBA, NHL and NFL action, along with a packed college football slate featuring top-ranked teams hitting the road to face their opponents.
As of early Saturday, more than 12 college football kickoffs have been delayed and No. 19 Ole Miss at Oklahoma will now be played on Sunday.
Official team and conference notices also confirmed revised Saturday kickoff times for six other games, including Auburn at Mississippi State, Washington at Michigan State and four Big 12 matchups, as travel disruptions rippled across the sport.
The Southeastern Conference (SEC) said it is assessing travel disruptions from the nationwide FAA ground stop and could adjust this weekend’s competition schedules if necessary.
"We will continue to monitor developments and work with our institutions to determine whether any adjustments to scheduled competitions become necessary," the SEC said in a statement.
The conference said it is coordinating with member schools and prioritizing the safety of student-athletes, coaches and team personnel.
Saturday’s highly anticipated SEC slate features No. 6 Texas visiting No. 21 LSU, No. 8 Tennessee traveling to Texas A&M.
Some teams have turned to buses for shorter trips, including Purdue, which switched to a roughly five-hour ride to Iowa City after the ground stop disrupted its flight plans.
The nationwide ground stop disrupted team travel ahead of a busy professional sports weekend, with five NBA games and 14 NHL games scheduled for Saturday.
The NBA’s Saturday slate features tip-offs from 7 to 8 p.m. ET. The Brooklyn Nets were grounded in New Orleans ahead of their trip to Memphis, while the Cavaliers, Bulls and Grizzlies planned to fly after Friday night’s games, the Associated Press reported.
With 14 NHL games on Saturday’s schedule and puck drops ranging from 1 to 10 p.m. ET, the San Jose Sharks were waiting to depart for Utah, while the Florida Panthers reached St. Louis before the ground stop, AP reported.
The NFL adjusted its Week 10 officiating assignments because of ongoing air travel disruptions, reassigning officials to games within driving distance of their hometowns, the league said in a statement.
The officiating adjustments affect Sunday’s Panthers–Saints, Jaguars–Titans, Dolphins–Colts and Steelers–Bengals games. All four remain scheduled for their original kickoff times: 1 p.m. ET for the first three and 8:20 p.m. ET for Steelers–Bengals.
Prolonged flight disruptions could complicate travel for visiting teams, which league guidelines require to arrive in the host city at least 18 hours before kickoff when traveling by air.
The NFL’s emergency rules give the commissioner authority to reschedule games if an emergency prevents them from starting.
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