Some professional and college sports teams were stuck on runways, or opting to pile into buses, ahead of games this weekend that are now uncertain due to the nationwide ground stop that was lifted Friday night.
Markwayne Mullin, the secretary of homeland security, said at a news conference on Friday that the ground stop was caused by technology upgrades “overwhelming” the flight communication system. Thousands of flights have been canceled, but no high-profile games have been affected so far, ahead of what is set to be a busy weekend in sports.
Dozens of teams had made it out of airports just ahead of the stop. But the N.B.A.’s Brooklyn Nets were not so lucky.
The Athletic reported that the Nets were stuck on a team plane on Friday. They have a game Saturday night against the Memphis Grizzles.
Also stuck at an airport was the University of Texas Longhorns football team, slated to play Louisiana State University in Baton Rogue, La., on Saturday night. Minutes before the stoppage, the Longhorns posted a video of players boarding a plane with the caption “Bayou bound.”
Both teams are in the Southeastern Conference, which said in a statement that it would work “to determine whether any adjustments to scheduled competitions become necessary.”
On Friday night, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy told reporters that he encouraged college football teams to coordinate their flights with the Federal Aviation Administration “to make sure we have games going off tomorrow.”
While some teams, including the Longhorns, headed home from the airport to wait out the delay, a handful of others opted to travel the old-fashioned way: By bus.
The Athletic reported that among the longest drives was a 330-mile ride for the Purdue University Boilermakers, who are playing the University of Iowa Hawkeyes on Saturday night.
The University of Southern California women’s basketball team said they were grounded in Los Angeles ahead of a marquee game Sunday against the University of South Carolina Gamecocks, but were preparing to travel on Saturday.
In men’s college basketball, a Saturday game between University of North Carolina Greensboro and Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., was postponed because of the ground stop.
N.F.L. teams typically travel on Saturday for Sunday games. Five teams told The Athletic that their travel plans were not affected.
According to The Athletic, the stakes of the ground stop may be most significant for the National Women’s Soccer League, which is scheduled to hold its semifinals this weekend. The stop affected the Kansas City Current’s flight to New York City ahead of its game against Gotham FC on Sunday. The Utah Royals, playing the Washington Spirit on Saturday, traveled before the stoppage.
The N.B.A.’s Cleveland Cavaliers had planned to catch a flight home after their Friday night game in Miami. Kenny Atkinson, the Cavaliers head coach, told reporters before the game that he didn’t know if the team would make their flight.
“I think we’re scrambling to find hotel rooms in case,” Mr. Atkinson said, adding: “If not, we’ll sleep on the bus.”
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