Cornell game postponed as historic FAA ground stop hits college basketball

While much of the college football slate — and transportation — for Saturday still hung in limbo due to the Federal Aviation Administration’s four-hour nationwide ground stop, one game on the men’s hoops slate has already been called off.

The men’s basketball game between Cornell and UNC Greensboro has been postponed, the Ivy League institution said on Friday.

Cornell said the game, originally scheduled for 11 a.m. at Newman Arena, will not go on because UNCG, like many other teams, was not able to fly because of what Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has labeled a “communication issue.” Sources told The Post that a botched software update caused the issue that led to the FAA grounding all flights right before 4 p.m. ET.

UNCG was supposed to fly out of Charlotte for the game in Ithaca but was unable to get off the ground. The two programs have not come up with a date for a rescheduled game.

At least 6,481 flights were canceled Friday, according to FlightAware, amid the ground stop — which the FAA lifted shortly after 8:30 p.m. There have been only two nationwide ground stops before Friday — on Sept. 11, 2001 after the terrorist attacks, and in January 2023 after a pilot notification system went down.

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told reporters that this communication issue did not appear to be a “threat to the United States.”

“There is no indication, and we had no reason to believe as of right now that this was a threat to the United States,” Mullin said at the White House. “There’s no reason for the public to be afraid or scared for your loved ones.”

The flight fiasco has affected everyday Americans and the sports world, particularly college football, which, as always, has a heavy slate of games on Saturday.

Multiple top-10 teams were affected, including No. 2 Utah, No. 8 Texas and No. 9 Tennessee.

A number of teams, including Auburn, North Texas and Purdue, decided to take buses to their Saturday games.

The SEC said it was closely monitoring the situation.

“We are in close communication with our member institutions to assess potential disruptions and coordinate appropriate responses,” the conference said in a statement. “The safety and well-being of student-athletes, coaches, and team personnel remain our highest priority.

“We will continue to monitor developments and work with our institutions to determine whether any adjustments to scheduled competitions become necessary.”