PITTSBURGH, Pa. — Travel plans for two University of Kansas sports teams met different fates on Friday evening as the Federal Aviation Administration grounded all flights across the country.
The KU football team made it safely to its destination without being affected by the ground stop, according to a post from its X account.
Online flight records on FlightAware show that a plane out of Topeka landed in Pittsburgh at 3:54 p.m. Eastern time. The Jayhawks are set to face West Virginia in nearby Morgantown, West Virginia, on Saturday at 5:30 p.m. Eastern (4:30 p.m. Central).
The ground stop, which reportedly began at that exact 3:54 p.m. time and which Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy attributed to a telecommunications outage, had profound consequences throughout the world of sports. For example, in the Big 12, ESPN reported that Baylor, Kansas State, Utah and Arizona State all dealt with travel issues.
The conference issued this statement on Friday night: “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 will continue to monitor the travel disruptions alongside its member institutions and provide updates for Saturday’s games.”
The KU women’s basketball team had its own challenges to contend with ahead of a matchup with No. 25 Nebraska in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. Central. The Jayhawks were set to fly there from Topeka but instead deplaned and headed to Sioux Falls via bus instead, a KU official said.
The grounding on Friday was just the second such event since the Sept. 11 attacks, with the previous one occurring on Jan. 11, 2023, for about an hour and a half due to an issue with the Notice to Air Missions system. As of Friday night, this latest ground stop was still ongoing.
— Information from the Associated Press was used in this report. Daniel Schmidt contributed to this report.
