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Utah football’s flight to Arizona delayed after FAA halts all flights. Here’s the latest.

The Utes returned to their football facility after a nationwide FAA ground stop delayed their flight to Tucson.

(Francisco Kjolseth  |  The Salt Lake Tribune) Salt Lake City International Airport on Monday, July 22, 2024.

(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Salt Lake City International Airport on Monday, July 22, 2024.

The No. 2 Utes are set to take on No. 23 Arizona on Saturday at 5:30 p.m. MST in Tucson, Arizona.

But Utah has to get there first.

According to multiple sources, Utah’s plane to Tucson was delayed when the Federal Aviation Administration issued a nationwide ground stop for all U.S. airports.

“The FAA issued ​a nationwide ground stop for all U.S. airports following a communication issue ​impacting all Air Route Traffic Control Centers. FAA technicians are investigating the issue. We will provide immediate updates as we have them,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a statement Friday.

According to multiple sources, the Utes have returned to their football facility on campus to wait out the delay. An athletics spokesperson said there are no updates on Utah’s travel plans as of now.

Utah is far from the only local team affected by the ground stop.

According to multiple reports, Utah State’s football team wasn’t able to take off from Logan for its game at San Diego State, while Baylor, which is scheduled to play at BYU on Saturday, is still in Waco, Texas.

Tennessee, Texas, Ole Miss, Kansas State, Washington and others are also dealing with travel delays, according to reports.

So what now? Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told reporters at the White House, “We have not discussed any timeframe” for resolving the FAA communications outage.

That puts several college football games scheduled for Saturday in doubt.

If the Utes were to bus from Salt Lake City to Tucson, it would be around a 12-hour drive. But the team’s travel plans remain unclear.

This story will be updated when more information becomes available.

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