On a Friday in mid-November, the nation's skies went quiet for several hours when the Federal Aviation Administration halted all flights after communications failures at regional air traffic control centers. The pause landed on a weekend of sport, when athletes and teams sit in the narrow space between departure and arrival, and it caught college football squads, NBA and NHL clubs, and soccer teams mid-journey. People scrambled for hotel rooms, rebooked seats, climbed onto buses, and waited for the sky to reopen so they could reach their games. By nightfall, the ground stop was lifted and the
Nationwide FAA Ground Stop Scrambles College Football, NBA and NHL Travel Plans Ahead of Weekend Games
Thousands of athletes, coaches, and team staff were stranded or forced into rushed travel plans, and some teams were left waiting for hours.
"It's part of it. You just adapt."
Mark
Why did a flight pause hit sports so hard?
Mimi
Timing. College teams almost all fly the day before a game, so a Friday stoppage landed on a dozen or more schools at once. Texas and Tennessee both had to turn around and go back to campus.
Mark
What did the fixes look like?
Mimi
Buses for Auburn and Purdue, and leagues moving kickoffs. The SEC pushed Auburn's game from 9 a.m. PST to 1:15 p.m. The Big 12 shuffled two games so Arizona State got three extra hours.
Luke
Worth saying what's actually known about the cause. Officials cited communications issues at regional air traffic control centers. That's the stated reason; the reporting doesn't tell us what failed or why.
Mark
And Duffy's comments on priority?
Mimi
He said larger movements get priority and smaller ones lower, and told football teams to contact the FAA to schedule charters.
Luke
That's a statement of intent. It doesn't spell out how the rules will work for teams, so I'd hold off drawing conclusions about who gets a slot.
Mark
Any teams we don't know about yet?
Mimi
The Sharks were waiting in San José, and the Kansas City Current didn't know when they could leave for their Sunday semifinal.
Luke
Right, and referees were unclear at first. The Big Ten says its officials arrived, but we don't have confirmation from other leagues in this account.
Mark
So what's the takeaway?
Mimi
Most teams made it or adapted, and Saturday travel was expected to go ahead. The open questions are the cause and the rules.
The Pulse
- A nationwide FAA ground stop froze aircraft in place across the country on a Friday, leaving teams with no warning and no way forward.
- Top-ranked and marquee college teams, including Utah, Texas and Tennessee, were stranded or forced to turn back to campus mid-trip.
- Schools improvised fast: Auburn and Purdue took buses, while the SEC and Big 12 rewrote kickoff times to buy travel buffers.
- Coaches and staff hunted for hotel rooms and rebooked seats in case the delay stretched past game day.
- With the stop lifted Friday night, most Saturday travel is expected to proceed, but the cause of the outage and how charter flights will be prioritized remain open questions.
On a Friday in mid-November, the nation's skies went quiet for several hours when the Federal Aviation Administration halted all flights after communications failures at regional air traffic control centers. The pause landed on a weekend of sport, when athletes and teams sit in the narrow space between departure and arrival, and it caught college football squads, NBA and NHL clubs, and soccer teams mid-journey. People scrambled for hotel rooms, rebooked seats, climbed onto buses, and waited for the sky to reopen so they could reach their games. By nightfall, the ground stop was lifted and the system was moving again, though the cause of the breakdown and the rules that will decide who flies first remain unanswered.
The Nets had already boarded their plane in New Orleans, bound for Memphis, when the flight was halted where it sat. It was one of the first signs of how far the Federal Aviation Administration's nationwide ground stop would reach into the sports calendar that Friday, catching professional, college and international teams in the middle of their weekend travel.
The FAA grounded all flights across the country for several hours, citing communications problems at regional air traffic control centers. Some teams searched for hotel rooms, others rebooked, leagues moved start times, and a few chartered buses rather than wait. College football felt it most, since so many teams fly the day before Saturday games. Texas and Tennessee turned back to campus and prepared to leave as soon as the skies reopened. Auburn took a bus to Mississippi State, and the SEC pushed that kickoff back to give the Tigers a buffer. Purdue boarded buses for its trip to Iowa. The Big 12 reshuffled its late slate so Arizona State could gain three extra hours after a delayed flight.
In the NBA, the Cavaliers were scrambling for rooms just in case, and their coach, Kenny Atkinson, put it simply: "It's part of it. You just adapt." In the NHL, the Sharks waited in San José to learn whether they could fly to Utah. USC's women's team, led by JuJu Watkins, had already boarded at Los Angeles International when the stop was issued, and they returned to the Galen Center. Kansas City's NWSL side did not know when it could depart for its semifinal in New York.
After the stop was lifted Friday night, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said general aviation and larger movements would receive priority, and he urged sports charters to contact the FAA to schedule their flights. Officials expect most Saturday travel to go ahead as planned. What remains open is what caused the communications failures and how the FAA's priority rules will treat team flights in the days ahead.
The Nets had just boarded their plane in New Orleans, bound for Memphis, when the flight was halted in place. It was one of the first signs on Friday of how far the Federal Aviation Administration's nationwide ground stop would reach into the sports calendar, catching professional, college and international teams in the middle of their weekend travel.
The FAA grounded all flights across the country for several hours. Transportation officials cited "extraordinary circumstances" tied to communications problems at regional air traffic control centers. Some teams hunted for hotel rooms, others rebooked flights, leagues moved start times, and a few chartered buses instead of waiting out the stoppage. After it was lifted Friday night, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said general aviation and larger movements would get priority, with smaller movements taking lower priority. Asked about sports, he noted that many football teams move by charter with a lot of people aboard, and urged them to contact the FAA to schedule flight times so Saturday's games could go off as planned.
College football felt it most, because most teams playing Saturday travel the day before. No. 2 Utah, eighth-ranked Texas and No. 9 Tennessee were all stuck as they set out for road games at No. 22 Arizona, No. 24 LSU and Texas A&M. Texas and Tennessee both returned to campus during the stoppage, which lasted more than four hours, and began arranging to fly out as soon as it ended so they could arrive before game day. The Southeastern Conference said it was in close contact with its schools and that the safety and well-being of student-athletes, coaches and team personnel remained its highest priority.
Some schools turned to the road. Auburn took a bus to Mississippi State, and the SEC moved that game's start from 9 a.m. PST to 1:15 p.m. to give the Tigers a buffer. Purdue boarded buses from West Lafayette, Indiana, for its game at Iowa. Washington's team went back to campus when its flight was grounded, but spokesman Kurt Svoboda said officials stayed in touch with Alaska/Hawaiian Airlines and the flight crew remained in place. The Huskies flew out late Friday for Saturday's game at Michigan State. Baylor, Kansas State, Minnesota and No. 19 Ole Miss were also affected; Ole Miss said it did not plan to fly to Oklahoma until Saturday morning.
The Big 12 reshuffled its slate late Friday. Kansas-West Virginia, set for 2:30 p.m. PST, moved up to 12:30 p.m. because the Jayhawks had arrived in plenty of time. That opened room to push Arizona State-UCF from 11:30 a.m. PST to 2:30 p.m., giving the Sun Devils three extra hours after their flight from Arizona to Florida was delayed. Whether referees, who usually fly in the day before, would make their games was initially unclear, but the Big Ten said all of its officials had arrived for Saturday assignments.
Some teams got out ahead of the stoppage: everyone traveling in the Atlantic Coast Conference, Missouri (headed to top-ranked Georgia), Duke (at fifth-ranked Miami) and No. 10 Texas Tech, which posted photos of its arrival for a game at Oklahoma State. Florida State at Pittsburgh, Illinois at fourth-ranked UCLA and No. 14 Houston at Colorado were played Friday night, with those teams hoping their charters home would not be disrupted. NFL teams, which normally travel Saturday for Sunday games, were expected to fly as planned.
In the NBA, the Nets were one of five teams scheduled to fly Friday for Saturday games. The Pistons had flown to Miami earlier in the day, while the Cavaliers, Bulls and Grizzlies played Friday night and were due to fly afterward. About 90 minutes before tip-off in Miami, Cleveland coach Kenny Atkinson said his team was scrambling for hotel rooms just in case, ahead of Saturday's home game against Dallas. "It's part of it. You just adapt," he said. Of 14 NHL games on Saturday, most teams, including the Panthers, reached their destinations in time, but the Sharks waited in San José to learn whether they could fly to Utah.
Third-ranked USC women, led by JuJu Watkins, had boarded at Los Angeles International Airport for Sunday's game at top-ranked South Carolina when the stop was issued. Passengers eventually deplaned and the team returned to the Galen Center. In the NWSL, the Utah Royals were already near Washington, D.C., for Saturday's semifinal against the Washington Spirit, but the Kansas City Current, due to leave Friday for Sunday's semifinal against Gotham FC in New York, did not know when they could depart. The U.S. national team's Saturday match against Haiti in Miami was unaffected, since both teams and officials were already there.
Most Saturday travel was expected to proceed. What remains open is the underlying cause of the communications failures, and how the FAA's priority rules will treat team charters in the days ahead.
Notable Quotes
We're going to allow for general aviation, those larger movements, to take place as a priority. Smaller movements will take lower priority.— Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy
It's part of it. You just adapt.— Cavaliers coach Kenny Atkinson
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