With Hurricane Ian bearing down on the Gulf Coast of Florida, leagues and teams are making decisions regarding upcoming practices and games. Hurricane Ian is currently forecast to make landfall on the Gulf Coast late Wednesday or early Thursday, as a major hurricane with wind speeds greater than 110 miles per hour.
The current track of the storm brings it through Florida and into Georgia and then the Carolinas through the weekend, and while the track of the storm could still change, there is potential for major disruptions.
As a result, many teams and leagues have begun making changes to their schedules. Here is a rundown of the changes to date:
NFL
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are slated to host the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday Night Football. Ahead of the storm, the Buccaneers traveled to Miami to hold practices at the Miami Dolphins’ practice facility.
While a decision regarding the game itself has not been made, there is a chance the game could get moved out of the state. According to a report from Jeff Darlington, the league has contingency plans in place to move games, and teams that travel overseas can make their stadiums available in such a situation. With the New Orleans Saints and Minnesota Vikings playing in London this Sunday, both venues could be an option, with U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis a likely choice so resources in New Orleans could be diverted to Florida if necessary:
Thread: If the Bucs are unable to host the Chiefs on Sunday due to the impact of Hurricane Ian, the NFL is unlikely to use Miami as the new game site even though Dolphins aren’t using the stadium, per league sources. The Bucs would instead be on the move again…
— Jeff Darlington (@JeffDarlington) September 26, 2022
MLB
Major League Baseball has not announced any changes to the upcoming schedule, but a pivotal series in the NL East could be impacted by Hurricane Ian. The Atlanta Braves, who trail the New York Mets by just a single game in the division, are set to host the Mets for a three-game series starting Friday night.
College Football
A number of college football games have been rescheduled in advance of Hurricane Ian.
The game for East Carolina and South Florida, which was scheduled to kickoff in Tampa, has been moved to Florida Atlantic University, on Florida’s Atlantic coast. That game is now scheduled to kickoff at 2:30 p.m. ET on Saturday.
The Florida game against Eastern Washington, which was slated to kickoff at noon on Saturday down in The Swamp, has been moved to noon on Sunday.
South Carolina was scheduled to host South Carolina State at noon on Saturday, but that game has been moved to 7:00 p.m. ET on Thursday night.
Other games to monitor include Virginia Tech at North Carolina, scheduled for 3:30 p.m. ET on Saturday, N.C. State at Clemson, scheduled for 7:30 p.m. ET on Saturday, and Virginia at Duke, scheduled for 7:30 p.m. on Saturday as well.
NHL
The Tampa Bay Lightning have moved a pair of preseason games that were scheduled for Wednesday (against the Carolina Hurricanes) and Thursday (against the Nashville Predators). The Lightning moved their training camp to Nashville, and will play Carolina on the road on Tuesday before playing the Predators in Nashville on Thursday.
This will be updated as further schedule changes are made.
