Pro and college sports teams impacted by FAA ground stop

Friday’s nationwide air travel “ground stop,” which halted domestic flights for several hours, was finally lifted.

But the ramifications are still being felt for families, travelers, and teams in the sporting world.

With domestic departures stopped for more than four hours before a busy slate of college football games, as well as NBA and NHL games, teams were left scrambling to find a way of reaching their destinations. The ground stop, implemented by the Federal Aviation Administration, was caused by a communications failure at regional air traffic control centers, and the FAA implemented the ground stop citing “extraordinary circumstances.”

While the stop has been lifted, the delay has created a backlog of flights, with more than 2,500 flights canceled and even more delayed.

Here is how the sports world has been impacted.

Some teams had already departed on Friday ahead of the ground stop, and flights that were in the air were able to reach their destinations. Missouri (traveling to Georgia), Duke (traveling to Miami), and No. 10 Texas Tech (traveling to Oklahoma State) all reached their destinations safely, as did every team traveling in the ACC.

As a result of the ground stop, Auburn traveled by bus to Mississippi State, and kickoff for that game was pushed back to 4:15 p.m., after originally being scheduled to kick off at noon.

In the Big 12, kickoff between Kansas and West Virginia was pushed back to 3:30 p.m., and Baylor’s game against No. 10 BYU has been rescheduled to 7:00 p.m. The biggest change is probably the game between Arizona State and UCF. The Sun Devils were set to fly on Friday, but the team deplaned and headed home. Arizona State will now fly cross-country on Saturday, for a game that will now kickoff at 5:30 p.m., instead of the original 3:30 p.m. kickoff time.

One game, Saturday’s contest between No. 19 Ole Miss and home team Oklahoma, has been pushed to Sunday at 1:00 p.m.

And the Sooners are not too happy about that. In a lengthy statement shared on social media, Oklahoma Athletic Director Roger Denny stated that after Ole Miss could not find travel accommodations on Friday, Commissioner Greg Sankey moved the game to Sunday “over our strong objection.” Denny also states that Sankey “further informed us that our failure to play on Sunday at the directed time would result in a forfeit:”

Now we wait to see how Saturday unfolds.

While NFL teams are expected to fly on Saturday as previously scheduled, the league has implemented changes to the officiating crews. In an announcement released Saturday morning, the NFL adjusted officiating assignments for Week 10 games, reassigning officials to games within driving distance of their hometowns.

This also means that three backup referees — Barry Anderson, Duane Heydt, and Don Willard, will work as well. Heydt will be the umpire in Carolina-New Orleans, Anderson will be the umpire in Jacksonville-Tennessee, and Anderson will work as a side judge in both Miami-Indianapolis on Sunday afternoon, and then Pittsburgh-Cincinnati on Sunday night:

There are five games on the docket in the NBA this Saturday, and while the Detroit Pistons made it to Miami on Friday, other teams are still trying to get to their ultimate destinations. The Brooklyn Nets, the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Chicago Bulls, and the Memphis Grizzlies all played on Friday night and were set to fly after those games.

However, one of those teams’ stars is pushing that the game should be canceled.

The Cavaliers played in Miami on Friday night, losing 133 to 121. The Cavaliers are set to host the Dallas Mavericks at home, but could not fly on Friday due to the stoppage and are set to fly home on Saturday morning. Donovan Mitchell, calling the situation “unprecedented,” is hoping that game is canceled.

There are 14 games on the NHL schedule for Saturday. Most teams have already arrived, but the San Jose Sharks had not left for Saturday’s game against the Utah Mammoth, and are still waiting on when they can travel to Salt Lake City.

On the men’s basketball side, Washington’s game at Utah, that was set to take place on Saturday, has been moved to Sunday.

On the women’s basketball side, Sunday’s big game between No. 1 South Carolina and No. 3 USC is a question. USC was set to fly cross-country on Friday, but JuJu Watkins and company had just boarded the flight at Los Angeles International Airport when the ground stop was issued. The team ultimately returned to campus on Friday evening.

The NWSL semifinals are this weekend, and while one game has not been impacted, the other is a bit of a question. The Utah Royals were already in Washington, D.C. ahead of Saturday’s semifinal against the Washington Spirit, but the Kansas City Current were scheduled to fly to New York to take on Gotham FC on Sunday, but the team was not able to fly out as scheduled.

How will fans, and even referees, travel to games over the weekend? According to FlightAware.com, more than 4,200 flights have already been canceled on Saturday, with that number rising. And over 11,000 flights have been delayed. These cancellations and delays could likely impact the sporting world throughout the weekend.