FAA Shuts Down Air Traffic Nationwide Due To ‘Communication Issue’
There is no official word on how this will impact sports across the country this weekend
Posted On: November 13, 2026 By :For only the third time in recent United States history, the Federal Aviation Administration induced a nationwide groundstop on Friday afternoon because of issues with its air traffic control system.
Sean Duffy, the secretary of transportation, cited “a communication issue impacting all Air Route Traffic Control Centers,” and said, “FAA technicians are investigating the issue. We will provide immediate updates as we have them.”
Markwayne Mullin, the secretary of homeland security, said federal officials were not ruling out any cause but did not suspect foul play. “There was no indication as of yet that this was a nefarious attack against us,” he said. “It’s just a telecommunication outage as of right now.”
The stoppage began shortly before 4 p.m. The New York Times reported that, according to aviation tracking website FlightRadar24, more than 1,000 airborne flights at that time, and flight tracking app Flighty said there were 30,000 more departures and arrivals scheduled for Friday.
Arizona State’s team at the airport, waiting for news, a scene many teams are facing right now. https://t.co/mKl92tQOxo
— Brandon Marcello (@bmarcello) November 13, 2026
The only previous groundstops this century came on September 11, 2001, after the terrorist attacks that morning, and on January 11, 2023, after the FAA’s system to alert pilots to safety issues went out.
This is a typically packed fall weekend, with college football, college basketball, the NFL, NBA and NHL all in full swing. The NWSL semifinals are this weekend, with the Washington Spirit hosting the Utah Royals and Gotham FC hosting the Kansas City Current in New York. USA Cycling is hosting the Madison Track National Championships in Detroit this weekend.
Reports have indicated that several college football, women’s college basketball and NBA teams were not able to depart for scheduled flights on Friday before the ground stop. Many college football teams are scheduled to play games on Saturday.
Per The Athletic, impacted teams include No. 2 Utah, No. 6 Texas, No. 8 Tennessee, No. 19 Ole Miss, Arizona State and Oregon State. Tennessee.
If alternative travel plans were needed, the Tennessee football team would have a drive of more than 14 hours to meet Texas A&M in College Station, Texas, for a 3 p.m. ET matchup on Saturday. Utah’s football team would have a 12-hour drive ahead of them to get to a 7:30 p.m. ET kickoff at No. 23 Arizona in Tucson. Arizona State was scheduled to travel across the country for a game at UCF in Orlando, Florida.
Many schools were able to travel ahead of the stoppage. These include No. 12 Texas Tech, No. 13 Wake Forest, No. 17 South Carolina, No. 18 USC and No. 22 Missouri.
In women’s college basketball, a premier matchup between No. 1 South Carolina and No. 3 USC in Greenville, South Carolina, is still on track for Sunday, though the Trojans were scheduled to fly on Friday night and did not get off the ground in Los Angeles before the ground stop was issued.
UPDATE: We have been grounded in Los Angeles following the nationwide ground stop, per the FAA.
Will provide updates as we have them.— USC Women’s Basketball (@USCWBB) November 13, 2026
In the NBA, five teams were either scheduled to fly Friday afternoon or after Friday games.
As of Friday at 7 p.m. ET, there had not been any official changes to scheduled sports events over the weekend. Ross Dellenger of Yahoo Sports reported that some conference officials were weighing potential college football kickoff schedule adjustments with media partners.