Friday’s unprecedented nationwide Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) ground stop didn’t just disrupt the travel plans of hundreds of thousands of ordinary travelers. It also threw the sports world into chaos, leaving some of the biggest names in college and professional sports scrambling to figure out how to get to their games this weekend.
RELATED: The ground stop, which lasted more than four hours Friday afternoon and evening, was supposedly prompted by communications problems affecting air traffic control centers. More than 2,500 flights were canceled nationwide, according to ESPN, and the disruption forced some sports teams to abandon their chartered flights in favor of buses.
It got so bad that Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy encouraged college football teams to contact the FAA for help getting their flights prioritized.
College football teams hit the road
According to ESPN and The Athletic, some college football teams decided they weren’t going to sit around waiting for their planes to take off.
Auburn traded its airplane for buses to get to Mississippi State, while Purdue hit the road from West Lafayette, Indiana, to Iowa. Tulane arranged for five buses to make the approximately 350-mile journey to Houston for its game against Rice.
Oregon State had an especially frustrating experience. The team initially started traveling by bus to Idaho for its game against Boise State before turning around and heading back to the airport when flying became an option again.
Scenes from the FAA stoppage: Colorado State is holding a walk-through at Northern Colorado Regional Airport as the team waits to fly to Pullman to play at Washington State on Saturday night. https://t.co/JiKvb9FAJ5
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) November 14, 2026
Meanwhile, Colorado State’s football team found a creative way to make use of its unexpected downtime. Instead of sitting around waiting for their flight to Pullman, Washington, the Rams held a walk-through at Northern Colorado Regional Airport (embedded above) as they waited for clearance to depart for Saturday night’s game against Washington State. Talk about making the most of a flight delay.
Texas and Tennessee returned to their campuses during the ground stop before eventually flying to their destinations late Friday night.
But perhaps the biggest disruption was the Ole Miss-Oklahoma game. The SEC moved the game from Saturday to Sunday at 1 p.m. ET after Ole Miss was unable to travel Friday.
Oklahoma wasn’t happy about the decision. Athletic director Roger Denny said in a statement that the school had been told it would have to forfeit if it didn’t play Sunday.
Imagine being a fan who flew in for the game
While much of the coverage has understandably focused on the teams, I immediately thought about the fans. Imagine flying to Oklahoma for a Saturday college football game, booking a couple of nights at a hotel and arranging to fly home Sunday, only to find out that the game has been moved to Sunday afternoon.
Now you’re potentially looking at changing your flight, extending your hotel stay, rearranging your rental car reservation and possibly missing work on Monday.
And if you’re flying on a nonrefundable airline ticket, don’t expect the airline to waive your fare difference simply because a football game was rescheduled. Unless the airline itself canceled or significantly changed your flight, you may be subject to the usual fare rules.
This is yet another reason I recommend avoiding Basic Economy tickets. While most major U.S. airlines have eliminated change fees on standard economy tickets for domestic flights, Basic Economy tickets often come with hefty restrictions, including limited or no ability to make changes.
It’s another reminder of why I prefer to book hotels with flexible cancellation policies whenever possible and why I try to avoid booking a flight home too soon after an important event.
Even NBA and NHL teams were affected
The travel chaos wasn’t limited to college football. The Brooklyn Nets had already boarded their chartered plane in New Orleans for a flight to Memphis when the ground stop went into effect. According to The Athletic, they were just minutes away from taking off. The team ultimately decided to stay in New Orleans and fly Saturday morning.
Meanwhile, the Cleveland Cavaliers were scrambling to find hotel rooms in Miami after their Friday night game, and the San Jose Sharks had to wait to find out whether they could fly to Utah for their Saturday game.
The USC women’s basketball team also had to get off its plane at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) and return to campus. The Trojans had been scheduled to travel to South Carolina for a big Sunday matchup.
Another interesting wrinkle is that while professional sports teams typically fly on chartered aircraft, many of the referees who officiate their games fly commercially. Even if both teams make it to the arena, the officials still have to get there, too.
The travel lesson for the rest of us
One of the biggest travel mistakes people make is not allowing enough time to get to an important event. Whether you’re traveling to attend a wedding, board a cruise ship, watch your favorite team play or give a presentation, I always recommend arriving at least a day early. If it’s a particularly important event or an international trip with limited flight options, consider giving yourself even more time.
Friday’s ground stop is a perfect example of why. It doesn’t matter how much money you spent on your ticket, what your airline elite status is or whether you’re flying on a private charter. When the FAA grounds flights, everyone has to wait.
And sometimes, as several college football teams discovered Friday, the best way to get to your destination is to forget about flying altogether and hit the road.
