TUCSON — Friday’s nationwide FAA ground stop scrambled college football travel and pushed back both of Saturday’s big games involving Arizona’s Big 12 schools, Arizona Sports reported.
Arizona State’s game at UCF in Orlando moved from 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. Arizona time and switched from ESPN2 to ESPNU. The Sun Devils did not fly out Friday and returned to campus to rest at home, with plans to leave Saturday morning, Arizona Sports’ John Gambadoro reported.
In Tucson, No. 23 Arizona’s home game against No. 2 Utah at Casino Del Sol Stadium was pushed from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. on Fox.
Utah tried to leave Salt Lake City after the stoppage was lifted, but Alaska Airlines told the school its pilots’ duty times had expired, Yahoo’s Ross Dellenger reported. ESPN’s Pete Thamel reported the Utes were set to depart at 10:50 a.m. Saturday, which led to the three-hour delay. KSL’s Josh Furlong reported Utah was not considering a 12.5-hour bus ride.
The FAA halted all flights nationwide Friday afternoon because of a communication issue affecting air route traffic control centers. The ground stop was lifted around 6:15 p.m. after more than four hours.
“Due to the national FAA ground stop impacting team travel, the Big 12 Conference is evaluating potential changes to Saturday’s football schedule,” the conference said in a statement Friday evening.
Sources: Arizona Sports, Arizona Sports. Thee Arizona Times uses AI-assisted reporting reviewed against the sources listed.
Photo: Jscarreiro at English Wikipedia / Public domain via Wikimedia Commons.
