FAA Grounds Flights Impacting College Football Saturday: When Will Ground Stop be Lifted?

Dylan Wilkerson Sports Betting Expert

3 minute read

Reporting current as of Friday evening, Nov. 13. This story is moving quickly, so check the FAA and your team’s athletic department for the latest.

What Happened?

The FAA issued a nationwide ground stop for all U.S. flights on Friday, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy confirmed. Flights already in the air could land, but no departures were allowed. The FAA cited a communication issue affecting all Air Route Traffic Control Centers. It was the first nationwide ground stop since January 2023, when a key FAA computer system malfunctioned. Before that, the last one came on Sept. 11, 2001.

Cirium data showed about 11,000 flights were scheduled to depart on Friday, and about 600 were diverted. The disruption hit as teams were leaving for Saturday games. Use our Polymarket promo code to start trading on when the Nationwide ground stop could be lifted.

What is Causing the Grounding?

Officials have not confirmed a root cause. Here is what has been reported so far:

• Not an attack, as of now. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said there was no indication yet of anything nefarious. He attributed the stop to a telecommunications outage.
• A network update. Multiple sources told CBS News that an update to the private network connecting air traffic control caused it to reboot and crash.
• A router problem. CNN reported that the FAA told airlines a network router problem, believed to have started at Chicago Midway, caused the outage. The same report said the affected network is overseen by L3Harris Technologies.
• A software update under review. Bloomberg reported that the FBI doesn’t believe the outage was a cyberattack or criminal act, and that one line of inquiry is whether a software update caused it.
• The AI question. Much of the speculation centers on the FAA’s new AI-assisted SMART air traffic system. Its vendor, Air Space Intelligence, said its software did not cause the ground stop. When Mullin was asked whether AI played a role, he said officials were looking at that. Nothing public ties the system to the outage.

When Could it be Resolved?

There is no firm timeline, and the situation was changing Friday evening. An FAA advisory listed an estimated end of 10 p.m. Central, but the FAA hadn’t confirmed when flights could resume. At about 6 p.m. ET, the FAA said flights would be allowed to depart as en-route facilities recover. Fox News reported the FAA gradually lifting restrictions as systems came back online, while ABC7 reported the stop remained in effect with some flights allowed to depart.

Even a quick restart won’t clear the backlog right away. Expect delays and cancellations to spill into Saturday. You can trade on when the grounding will expire down to the hour with our Kalshi promo code.

Could it Affect This Weekend's Sports?

Yes, especially college football. Neither the NCAA nor the conferences had addressed how the stoppage might affect Saturday’s schedule. It was also unclear whether referees, who typically fly in the day before, would arrive on time. Teams that normally fly Friday afternoon would arrive late with less preparation time, even if the stop lifts tonight. After 9/11, college football moved postponed games to the week after the original end of the regular season.

Other leagues are watching too. NFL teams were left to wonder whether the issue would be resolved in time for them to travel this weekend. The NHL has 14 games Saturday, and the San Jose Sharks were reportedly grounded. No postponements had been announced.

College Football Teams Grounded

Confirmed grounded (per ESPN’s Pete Thamel, Friday evening):

• Baylor (at BYU)
• Kansas State (at TCU)
• Utah (at Arizona)
• Arizona State (at UCF)
• Ole Miss (at Oklahoma)
• Tennessee (at Texas A&M)
• Texas (at LSU)
• Minnesota (at Penn State)
• Purdue (at Iowa)
• Washington (at Michigan State)
• Oregon State (at Boise State)
• Wyoming (at UTEP)
• North Texas (at UTSA)

Also reported grounded:

• Tulane (at Rice) and Florida Atlantic (at Tulsa)
• Colorado State, which is due at Washington State
• UNLV, which returned to campus after the stoppage and is due to face New Mexico

Switching to buses or driving:

• Auburn will bus to Mississippi State for a noon game.
• Purdue is bussing to Iowa.
• Alabama will drive to Nashville to face Vanderbilt.

Not affected:

• The ACC said all its visiting teams landed before the order. Nebraska and USC were airborne when it took effect.
• Northwestern arrived at Ohio State before the stop, and Kansas arrived in West Virginia.

Team lists come from several outlets and were still being updated. Teams on this list may have since departed or changed plans.

Dylan Wilkerson

Dylan Wilkerson has over 5 years of experience reporting and analyzing the sports betting industry for various sites. His portfolio includes work for SportsHandle and Action Network, in addition to VegasInsider. His favorite sports are the NFL, College Football, The PGA Tour, the LIV Tour, and Cricket. Dylan has a broad and deep understanding of various sports-related topics. More from Dylan Wilkerson