The Tampa Bay Buccaneers plan to move to the New Orleans area to prepare for Sunday’s game against the Saints with Hurricane Milton is expected to make landfall along the west coast of Florida.
The Bucs plan to travel Tuesday and spend the rest of the week out of state instead of practicing as usual at the team’s training facility in Tampa.
Milton strengthened into a Category 4 hurricane over the Gulf of Mexico on Monday and could make landfill in the Tampa Bay area on Wednesday.
The NHL’s Tampa Bay Lightning canceled Monday night’s scheduled preseason finale against the Nashville Predators. The match was initially moved to September 27 due to Hurricane Helene, which caused major damage in the region two weeks ago.
The Lightning open the regular season at Carolina on Friday. There was no immediate word on whether the team would evacuate to Raleigh, North Carolina, before the storm.
Milton is expected to make landfall and possibly remain a hurricane as it passes through Central Florida, which includes the Orlando area.
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 are also affected, with UCF in Orlando announcing that all home track and field events on Wednesday and Thursday have been canceled. That includes Wednesday’s volleyball match against Colorado, Thursday’s women’s soccer match against Arizona and the first day of the men’s tennis ITA Southeast Regionals on Thursday.
The school said Saturday’s Big 12 home football game against Cincinnati is still scheduled for a 3:30 PM ET kickoff.