TAMPA — 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 yesterday, 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.
The Lightning’s home opener against Carolina is set for Saturday night and is on as scheduled for now.
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.
UCF’s Big 12 home football game vs. Cincinnati remains scheduled for a 3:30 p.m. EDT kickoff in Orlando.
UCF’s men’s soccer match vs. Marshall was rescheduled from Friday night to Sunday. Other college events postponed include a women’s soccer match in Boca Raton between Florida Atlantic and Rice; it was to be played Thursday and now will be played on October 17.
The LPGA Tour postponed the qualifying stage of its LPGA Q-Series that was scheduled for October 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.
“Our thoughts are with the entire Florida community as we prepare for the storm,” the LPGA said.
And in the NBA, a preseason game in Miami — which is not expected to feel hurricane conditions, but is likely to get strong wind gusts and several inches of rain — between the Heat and the Atlanta Hawks was pushed back from Thursday to October 16.
Also, countless high school sports events scheduled around Florida were called off. In many counties, officials were waiting to see what would happen with football games scheduled for Thursday and Friday.
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
AP Hockey Writer Stephen Whyno, AP Golf Writer Doug Ferguson, AP Basketball Writer Tim Reynolds and AP Sports Writer Fred Goodall contributed to this report.
AP sports: https://apnews.com/sports