Gophers Were Stranded At MSP By Nationwide Ground Stop Ahead Of Penn State Game

MINNEAPOLIS, MN — The University of Minnesota Gophers football team was set to fly to Pennsylvania on Saturday morning, a day after a rare nationwide ground stop kept its charter plane from leaving Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.

The Federal Aviation Administration lifted the order Friday evening after more than four hours, though airlines warned travelers that delays and cancellations would linger into the weekend.

The Gophers were booked on a Sun Country charter scheduled to leave at 2:40 p.m. Friday for State College, but the FAA order came down moments before the plane could take off, the Star Tribune reported.

Minnesota and Penn State consulted with the Big Ten, and the team now plans to fly out around 8:30 a.m. Saturday, according to the newspaper.

The game remains scheduled for 6 p.m. Central at Beaver Stadium and will air on FS1.

Players and staff stayed on the plane for roughly an hour before buses took them back to the terminal, and the team then returned to campus, ClutchPoints reported.

In a statement, a university spokesperson said the Gophers "were unable to travel to Penn State on Friday" because of the ground stop.

The FAA halted departures nationwide at 2:54 p.m. Central on Friday and lifted the order that evening, according to federal officials. More than 3,500 planes were in the air when the stop took effect, and the FAA said it tested its systems to make sure they were stable before letting flights resume, CNN reported.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy blamed aging air traffic control equipment and routers that became overloaded with data. Sources told CBS News that an update to the network linking the country's air traffic control system caused it to restart and then fail. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said there was no indication of a "nefarious act."

It was only the second nationwide ground stop since the Sept. 11 attacks, with the previous one in 2023, MS NOW reported.

Travelers flying out of MSP this weekend should check with their airline for flight-specific updates and can track delays on the FAA's national airspace status page.