The Latest on Hurricane Irma’s impact on sports (all times local):
9:55 p.m.
Florida International has called off its football game at Indiana on Saturday because of ongoing effects of Hurricane Irma.
FIU has canceled all of the school’s planned games through Sunday, including men’s and women’s soccer, golf and volleyball.
It’s still unknown when FIU will be able to leave Birmingham, Alabama, where its teams have been for nearly a week to get away from Irma. And Irma actually found the Panthers there; tropical storm conditions from the remnants of Irma were hammering Birmingham on Monday night.
FIU and Indiana will try to defer the game to a different season.
Indiana says it will try to find a new opponent to play at home on its Oct. 7 bye date.
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7:30 p.m.
Miami Central’s football team held practice Monday afternoon. In a parking lot. In Las Vegas
Add that to the list of Hurricane Irma stories.
The high school team played Bishop Gorman High in Las Vegas last weekend, and hasn’t been able to return to Miami because of the storm. So the team has stayed in Vegas, getting meals from local restaurants and even logistical help from the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department.
Central coach Roland Smith says “this is what makes America great. And I’m just thankful for Las Vegas, Nevada - the entire community - for taking care of us while we are stranded here.”
Bishop Gorman officials say they are picking up Central’s hotel tab.
Central running back James Cook says “it’s a great feeling to be on the road, but we have family back home we want to get to.”
The FIU and FAU football teams have also been displaced by the storm and unable to return to South Florida.
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7:05 p.m.
Miami’s women’s soccer team will not make its trip for a scheduled game Friday at Syracuse, as the school continues dealing with the effects of Hurricane Irma.
The teams are trying to make up the Atlantic Coast Conference game later this season.
Miami’s campus is closed this week and athletes from all the school’s teams scattered to different places to get away from Irma. It’s unclear when Miami will be able to restart practices in most sports.
Miami’s 17th-ranked football team didn’t play last weekend at Arkansas State and won’t play this weekend at Florida State because of Irma’s wrath.
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5:45 p.m.
The Jacksonville Jaguars are spending another night in Houston because of Hurricane Irma.
Coach Doug Marrone says the team plans to take a flight home early Tuesday and resume normal game-week operations Wednesday.
The Jaguars stayed in Houston following a 29-7 victory against the Texans because of the impending hurricane and had to stay an extra night because the Jacksonville Airport was closed Monday after the storm passed. The St. Johns River endured historic surge levels and prompted evacuations for residents in and around the downtown area.
Jacksonville hosts the Tennessee Titans on Sunday. Marrone says officials are assessing damage to EverBank Field and will then determine whether the game will be played as scheduled. It also could get moved to Nashville, Tennessee or postponed to later in the season.
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5:25 p.m.
A person familiar with the discussions says Dolphins owner Stephen Ross asked the NFL to move his team’s October game in London to Miami, and he was turned down.
The person confirmed the request to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity Monday because the Dolphins officials declined to comment publicly.
Ross made the request last week when the Dolphins’ schedule was scrambled by Hurricane Irma. They must now play 16 consecutive weeks because their scheduled opener at home against Tampa Bay was postponed until Nov. 19 due to the storm.
The Dolphins will be the home team when they play the New Orleans Saints in London on Oct. 1. Miami won’t open at home until Oct. 8.
- AP Sports Writer Steve Wine in Miami
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5:15 p.m.
Six percent of the membrane on the retractable roof at Marlins Park will need to be replaced after the season because of damage from Hurricane Irma.
The team made the announcement on Monday, saying that damage was to the rubber and plastic membrane on a facing panel of the roof, which weatherproofs the roof structure. The ballpark had no flooding or water damage.
The Marlins’ next home series beginning Friday against Milwaukee may need to be rescheduled, but not because of the roof. A decision on whether to change the schedule will hinge on local government efforts to recover from Irma, including the availability of police and fire rescue, a person familiar with the situation said.
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5:05 p.m.
Indiana is preparing for this Saturday’s home game against FIU under the assumption that it will still take place despite the scheduling disruptions that have been created by Hurricane Irma.
Hoosiers coach Tom Allen noted that FIU played last weekend in Birmingham, Alabama, and has been displaced by the storm. The Panthers’ odyssey in Birmingham entered Day 5 on Monday.
Allen says, “Our thoughts and prayers are with them. We’re trying to do everything we can to help and support them.”
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4:50 p.m.
UCF is hosting the National Guard this weekend, and not Georgia Tech.
The Knights will get a second consecutive weekend off from football games because of the effects of Hurricane Irma. UCF was scheduled to host Georgia Tech on Saturday but that game has been called off and will not be rescheduled. The school, located in Orlando, is using its stadium as a staging ground for 1,000 National Guard members and 250 vehicles needed to assist with Irma-related recovery.
UCF also couldn’t play this past weekend against Memphis because of the storm.
UCF athletic director Danny White says the Knights are “honored to host the National Guard and play a part in helping our community and state recover from Irma.”
Georgia Tech athletic director Todd Stansbury, who was UCF’s AD from 2012 through 2015, says he agrees with the move and that recovery from the story “should be and is the top priority for UCF and the entire state of Florida at this time.”
Miami and Florida State, like UCF, are also going to miss two straight game weekends because of the storm.
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3:10 p.m.
Southeastern Conference Commissioner Greg Sankey says the league is communicating with Tennessee and Florida officials about the status of their scheduled Saturday matchup in Gainesville as Hurricane Irma continues to wreak havoc on sports in the region.
Sankey said in statement Monday that, “Now that the storm has passed through Gainesville, the University of Florida is working with local authorities to assess the effect of the storm on the campus and the Gainesville community, at the same time ensuring the appropriate security and local officials are available to host a game.”
Tennessee coach Butch Jones says the 23rd-ranked Volunteers are preparing to face No. 24 Florida expecting the game will be played in Gainesville as scheduled.
SEC rules say that “if extenuating circumstances” require that the date or location of a game be rescheduled, the participating schools will determine when and where it be played, subject to Sankey’s approval. Florida and Tennessee aren’t off on the same weekend going forward.
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2:20 p.m.
FIU was back on the practice field Monday in its home away from home - Birmingham, Alabama.
The Panthers’ odyssey in Birmingham entered Day 5 on Monday. The team headed there Thursday to escape Hurricane Irma, played Alcorn State there on Friday night and has now practiced in Alabama each of the last two days.
FIU’s campus remains closed because of the problems Irma created when the massive, powerful storm struck South Florida. FIU officials are constantly reassessing when - or if - it will be prudent for the football team to return to Miami this week.
FIU plays this weekend at Indiana, and going directly there from Birmingham remains an option.
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2:05 p.m.
The U.S. women’s national hockey team is taking a day off after riding out Hurricane Irma inside a ballroom of a resort in Tampa, Florida.
Captain Meghan Duggan told The Associated Press by phone Monday that the U.S. squad was safe and hopes that is the case for everyone in the path of the storm.
The team arrived in Tampa in August to start training for the 2018 Winter Games, and was going to officially start its residency program this weekend. Irma scrapped those plans.
Reagan Carey, USA Hockey’s director of women’s hockey and the national team’s general manager, says they consulted with local officials and the NHL’s Tampa Bay Lightning in advance of the storm. Carey says they decided not to evacuate after learning the team was not in any of the anticipated flood or evacuation zones.
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1:40 p.m.
Horses will be back on the track for training at Gulfstream Park on Tuesday, as well as at their Gulfstream Park West and Palm Meadows facilities.
Hurricane Irma caused “some minor damage” to some of the track’s older barns, mostly roof shingles. But all the horses - and those who work on the backstretch and live in dorms there - handled the storm safely.
Gulfstream Park general manager and vice president of racing P.J. Campo says the track has invested over the past two years “by installing a flood retaining wall and pump stations, and they worked. The stables were not flooded.”
Cards for the Saturday and Sunday racing programs will be drawn on Wednesday. Simulcasting will also resume on Wednesday at the track.
Campo says the track is waiting until Saturday to resume racing because “we have to wait for outside resources and utilities in the South Florida area like power, gas and clean-up to catch up.”
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12:12 p.m.
A person familiar with the situation says structural engineers will inspect the Miami Dolphins’ stadium after a possible tornado was reported in the area during Hurricane Irma.
The person confirmed the planned inspection to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity Monday because the Dolphins have not commented on the condition of the stadium. The team’s complex in Davie, Florida appears to be fine in the wake of the storm, the person said.
Another person said Marlins Park was being assessed. Photos posted on social meeting showed possible storm damage to the outer facade of the retractable roof.
The Dolphins evacuated from South Florida before the storm’s arrival and will practice in Oxnard, California, this week to prepare for their delayed start of the season.
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