Hurricane Milton forces Bucs and Lightning to leave Florida early and other teams to alter games
Highway signage announces the impending arrival of Hurricane Milton and the evacuations zones on Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024, in Port Richey, Fla. Credit: AP/Mike Carlson
The NFL's Tampa Bay Buccaneers and NHL's Tampa Bay Lightning have left Florida ahead of Hurricane Milton to practice the rest of the week.
The Bucs departed Tuesday, relocating to New Orleans, where they'll face the Saints on Sunday. The Lightning left for Raleigh, North Carolina, on Monday night to continue preparations for their season opener against the Carolina Hurricanes on Friday night.
Milton, currently a Category 4 hurricane, is projected to make landfall in the Tampa Bay area on Wednesday night.
The Lightning’s home opener against Carolina is set for Saturday night and is on as scheduled for now.
It's third time in the past seven years the Bucs have shifted operations to another area to avoid bad weather.
In 2020, they traveled to South Florida ahead of Hurricane Ian to practice at the Miami Dolphins' training facility before returning home to play the Kansas City Chiefs. When Tampa Bay's 2017 season opener against the Dolphins was postponed because of Hurricane Irma, the team chartered several planes to move players, coaches and families to Charlotte, North Carolina, to escape the storm.
At the college level, the American Athletic Conference announced that a football game between Memphis and South Florida at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa has been rescheduled from Friday night to Saturday. The conference plans to monitor conditions after Milton passes and adjust accordingly.
Highway signage announces the impending arrival of Hurricane Milton and the evacuations zones on Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024, in Port Richey, Fla. Credit: AP/Mike Carlson
UCF's Big 12 home football game vs. Cincinnati remains scheduled for a 3:30 p.m. EDT kickoff in Orlando.
The Knights rescheduled events in several other sports, including shifting UCF's home volleyball match against Colorado from Wednesday night to Sunday. UCF and Arizona changed the location of Thursday’s women’s soccer match from Orlando to Houston. With Arizona set to play at Houston on Sunday and UCF scheduled to play at Colorado the same day, the teams agreed to play Thursday’s match in Texas.
UCF's men’s soccer match vs. Marshall was rescheduled from Friday night to Sunday.
The LPGA Tour postponed the qualifying stage of its LPGA Q-Series that was scheduled for Oct. 13-18 at Plantation Golf and Country Club in Venice, Florida. The tour said it would provide an update for the qualifying tournament after the storm passes.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers defense celebrates after linebacker Lavonte David, center, intercepted a pass by Atlanta Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins during the second half of an NFL football game Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024, in Atlanta. Credit: AP/Butch Dill
“Our thoughts are with the entire Florida community as we prepare for the storm,” the LPGA said.
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AP Hockey Writer Stephen Whyno, AP Golf Writer Doug Ferguson and AP Sports Writer Fred Goodall contributed to this report.
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