10
Loading video...
By Ellis Williams
0
Share
Newsweek is a Trust Project member
See more of our trusted coverage when you search.Prefer Newsweek on Googleto see more of our trusted coverage when you search.
College football teams scrambling to reach their Saturday games received an invitation from Washington on Friday night. Call the Federal Aviation Administration.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy encouraged teams traveling on charter planes to coordinate their departures with the agency as the country recovered from a nationwide ground stop. He said larger general aviation movements would receive priority over smaller ones.
Duffy addressed the situation during a White House briefing, according to Washington Post reporter Mark Maske. His comments came with programs trying to salvage travel plans disrupted on the eve of a full college football schedule.
Read More on NCAA
“So I would encourage those football teams to reach out to the FAA to schedule their flight times,” Duffy said, “and make sure they can move to make sure we have games going off tomorrow.”
...
He pointed to the number of passengers aboard team charters and said the goal was to get the teams moving so Saturday's games could take place. That was an invitation to arrange travel with the FAA, not an announcement that every team had received clearance or that every kickoff was protected.
The nationwide ground stop has since been lifted. Duffy said airspace reopened at 8:15 p.m. Eastern, but lifting the restriction did not erase the delays or immediately restore each team's itinerary.
Before the reopening, some schools had already started looking for another way to get to their games. The Auburn Tigers turned to buses for their trip to face the Mississippi State Bulldogs, while the Purdue Boilermakers did the same for their visit to the Iowa Hawkeyes, according to The Associated Press.
The SEC moved Auburn’s game at Mississippi State from noon Eastern to 4:15 p.m. Saturday because of the travel disruption, Auburn announced. Television coverage had not been determined.
The Texas Longhorns and Tennessee Volunteers returned to campus during the stoppage. After it ended, both schools began arranging flights that would get them to their destinations before game day, the AP reported.
The disruption had also raised questions about the television schedule. Yahoo Sports reporter Ross Dellenger reported that conference officials were discussing possible kickoff adjustments with broadcast partners, including the possibility of swapping time slots with other games. Newsweek reported those discussions earlier Friday.
The Big 12 later announced four kickoff changes for Saturday. Kansas-West Virginia will begin at 3:30 p.m. Eastern on ESPN2, Arizona State-UCF at 5:30 p.m. on ESPNU, Baylor-BYU at 7 p.m. on FOX and Utah-Arizona at 10:30 p.m. on FOX.
Duffy's request gave stranded programs a specific next step. For teams that had spent Friday waiting to leave, the immediate task was still a practical one. Secure a departure, reach the opponent's city and preserve as much of the remaining preparation time as possible.
View 0 Comments
Submit Correction
View Editorial & AI Guidelines