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A Federal Aviation Administration ground stop that stretched more than four hours on Friday canceled over 7,000 flights and sent shockwaves through professional and college sports. Travel disruptions forced schedule changes across college football, the NBA and the NFL, though the impact varied significantly by sport.
NFL Adjusts Officiating but Keeps Games on Track
Every NFL game will proceed as scheduled this weekend. A league spokesman confirmed to NBC News that road teams typically travel on Saturdays, so Friday’s ground stop had little direct effect on players or team travel.
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The New England Patriots and the Detroit Lions, who face each other in Munich, Germany, both departed well before the disruption began. However, the NFL did need to make one notable adjustment: officiating assignments for Week 10 games.
“Due to the ongoing nationwide impact to air travel this weekend, the NFL has adjusted its officiating assignments for Week 10 games, reassigning officials to games within driving distance of their hometowns,” a league spokesman said. Three backup referees will step in on Sunday. Duane Heydt will work a game in New Orleans, Barry Anderson heads to Tennessee, and Don Willard will serve as side judge for games in both Indianapolis and Cincinnati. Those two stadiums sit less than 120 miles apart, with kickoffs more than seven hours apart.
College Football Hit Hardest by Disruptions
More than a dozen college football programs faced significant travel complications, according to The Athletic. Some schools rescheduled flights to Saturday morning, while others, including the Alabama Crimson Tide, simply took buses to their destinations.
Several kickoffs moved to later Saturday slots to allow teams more time to arrive. Those games included Baylor vs. BYU, Arizona State vs. UCF, and Utah vs. Arizona.
The most contentious situation involved Oklahoma and Ole Miss. SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey moved that game to Sunday after Ole Miss could not arrange travel to Norman in time. Oklahoma Athletic Director Roger Denny strongly objected and released a public statement expressing frustration. “We were told that Ole Miss explored every avenue to travel to Norman and play on Saturday as planned. But, unlike every other team traveling for competition tomorrow, they were unable to find a solution,” Denny said. He added that Sankey informed Oklahoma that refusing to play Sunday would result in a forfeit. Denny also criticized the impact on Oklahoma fans who had already made travel and accommodation arrangements around a Saturday game.
NBA and NHL See Minimal Impact
A handful of NBA teams, including the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Chicago Bulls, rescheduled flights from Friday evening to Saturday morning. Despite that, an NBA source confirmed to NBC News that all games would proceed as planned.
Cavaliers coach Kenny Atkinson kept a calm perspective. “Flights are late, get stuck on the runway, just like it does in the normal commercial world of flight, so it’s just part of it,” he said. Meanwhile, Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell was less relaxed, noting the team already faced a tough back-to-back situation. “This is unprecedented,” Mitchell said, per Cleveland.com.
The NHL, finally, reported no schedule changes. The league had only two games on Friday, and most teams had already traveled before the ground stop took effect.
