College football teams faced a massive headache on Friday as a rare nationwide ground stop left them stranded. The Federal Aviation Administration issued the order after air traffic control facilities hit communication and radar instability issues. Thousands of flights got canceled or delayed, turning the entire Saturday slate into chaos. Top-25 teams like Tennessee, Texas, and Ole Miss found their charter planes stuck on the tarmac while the clock ticked down to kickoff.
Old Tech Causes New Problems
Sean Duffy, the Transportation Secretary, attributed the chaos to a “DECADES-OLD” air traffic control system operating with analog equipment. He held a press conference at the White House on Friday night to address the scramble. Duffy made it clear that while general aviation was allowed, larger movements would take priority. “As I mentioned, we’re going to allow for general aviation,” Duffy said during the event. He noted that football teams often travel on charters with many individuals on board, which complicates logistics.
The ground stop started Friday afternoon and lasted until just after 8:30 p.m. It was the second time this happened since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, with the last one occurring in January 2023. “There is no indication, and we had no reason to believe as of right now that this was a threat to the United States,” Mullin said at the White House, according to the New York Post.
Teams Forced to Bus or Wait
With flights grounded, several programs had to pivot fast. Auburn, Purdue, Tulane, and North Texas opted to take buses to their road games in Mississippi State, Iowa, Houston, and San Antonio. Arizona State pushed its kickoff back two hours because the team could not fly out of Tempe until Saturday morning. The situation got even trickier for the Utah Utes, who could not fly out because the pilots’ time had expired during the stop, Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger reported.
The SEC confirmed it was aware of the travel issues. “We are in close communication with our member institutions to assess potential disruptions and coordinate appropriate responses,” the conference said in a statement, according to the New York Post. The league added that safety remained the top priority. “We will continue to monitor developments and work with our institutions to determine whether any adjustments to scheduled competitions become necessary.”
Duffy urged schools to take action themselves to avoid more delays. “So I would encourage those football teams to reach out to the FAA, to schedule their flight times and make sure they can move to make sure we have games going off tomorrow.” At least 6,481 flights were canceled Friday, according to the New York Post, amid the ground stop. The men’s basketball game between Cornell and UNC Greensboro was the first to get postponed as a result.
