With Hurricane Milton expected to make landfall on Florida’s west coast, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers plan to relocate to the New Orleans area for Sunday’s game against the Saints.
The Bucs will travel Tuesday and spend the rest of the week out of state instead of practicing normally at the team’s training facility in Tampa.
Milton strengthened into a Category 5 hurricane over the Gulf of Mexico on Monday and could make landfall in the Tampa Bay area on Wednesday.
The NHL’s Tampa Bay Lightning have canceled their final preseason game against the Nashville Predators scheduled for Monday night. The game was originally postponed to September 27th due to Hurricane Helen, which caused severe damage to the area two weeks earlier.
The Lightning open the regular season Friday at Carolina. There is no immediate word on whether the team will be evacuated to Raleigh, North Carolina ahead of the storm.
The NBA’s Orlando Magic are on the road this week, playing in New Orleans on Monday night and San Antonio on Wednesday.
College sports have also been affected, with UCF in Orlando announcing that all home track and field meets on Wednesday and Thursday have been canceled. This includes Wednesday’s volleyball game against Colorado, Thursday’s women’s soccer game against Arizona, and Thursday’s opening day of the men’s tennis ITA Southeast Regional Tournament.
Saturday’s Big 12 home football game against Cincinnati is scheduled for kickoff at 3:30 p.m. ET, the school said.
Coach Gus Malzahn said the Knights plan to practice Wednesday morning before the storm is expected to impact the Orlando area.
“We’re trying to continue life as normal as possible,” Malzahn said. “So we’ll adjust. No matter what happens, we have a plan. We’ve talked about it. The most important thing in terms of the plan is the players and everyone that comes into the program. I think it’s about making sure people are taken care of.”