Ground stop disrupts weekend sports

Most professional and college teams reached their destinations on Saturday despite a Federal Aviation Administration ground stop that halted flights nationwide earlier in the week. The interruption forced leagues to reschedule games and adjust travel logistics for visiting squads.

College football absorbed the majority of the disruption. Several Saturday contests faced delays to allow visiting teams adequate time to arrive. The matchup between No. 2 Utah and No. 22 Arizona was postponed by three hours. A similar three-hour delay occurred for the Arizona State game at Central Florida. Auburn traveled by charter bus instead of flying.

The biggest exception in college football involves the No. 19 Mississippi team playing at Oklahoma. That game moved to Sunday at 1 p.m. EST, placing it in direct competition with the NFL slate.

Women's basketball teams also faced travel hurdles. The third-ranked Southern California team was deplaned after boarding their flight to face top-ranked South Carolina. The Trojans stayed in Los Angeles overnight and departed for Greenville on Saturday afternoon. Fairleigh Dickinson coach Stephanie Gaitley learned late Friday night that her team's flight to Ohio State was canceled. She chose to delay the trip so her players could sleep before starting a 10-hour bus ride Saturday morning.

Other sports saw mixed results. The Utah Royals were already in the Washington, D.C., area for their National Women’s Soccer League semifinal. The Kansas City Current, heading to New York for a semifinal against Gotham FC, stated they were working with the NWSL and their charter partner to ensure safe arrival by Sunday. In the NHL, 14 games were scheduled for Saturday, and most teams arrived before the stoppage began. The San Jose Sharks arrived in Utah late Friday.

The NBA faced limited issues, with Cleveland being the primary outlier. The Cavaliers missed their planned Friday night departure from Miami after a game against the Heat. They boarded a plane at 8:54 a.m. Saturday for a trip home to play the Dallas Mavericks. Guard Donovan Mitchell said the team would adapt to the back-to-back schedule.

"Back-to-back, three-hour flight, it was already a tough one," Mitchell said. "But hey, they say we’ve got to play, we’ve got to play."

Rescheduling the game was difficult because the Cleveland arena has events on 11 consecutive days. Coach Kenny Atkinson said, "It’s part of it. You just adapt." Officials also faced routing changes. NFL referee Don Willard will work the Dolphins-Colts game at 1 p.m. EST before driving 112 miles east to officiate the Steelers-Bengals Sunday Night Football game. In the NBA, crew adjustments were made for two games. Brian Forte replaced Jason Goldenberg for the Chicago-Minnesota game. Jenna Schroeder replaced Forte for the Dallas-Cleveland game.