December 8, 2018CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. — Due to mechanical and logistical issues with its charter aircraft and unsafe flying conditions due to weather throughout the southern United States on Friday, Dec. 7, the Boston College men’s basketball team was unable to travel to Texas for its game on Saturday evening at Texas A&M.
Boston College had asked Texas A&M for contingency plan to move the game from 5 pm CT to 9 pm CT on Saturday night and were open to all playing options on Sunday, Dec. 9. Texas A&M declined both of those offers. As a result, Texas A&M announced that tonight’s game has been cancelled.
The Eagles were originally scheduled to depart Hanscom Field at 2 p.m. ET for its five-hour, 15-minute charter flight for its trip to College Station, however, the CRJ-700 aircraft was grounded due to a mechanical issue that could not be repaired. An alternate ERJ-145 aircraft was slated to arrive to transport the team at 3:30 p.m. ET, but arrived four hours late.
During that time, weather conditions throughout eastern Texas and the surrounding areas deteriorated. The pilot of the ERJ-145 and the charter airline – Via Airlines – deemed it unsafe to fly. With the change in aircraft, the revised flight plan would have necessitated a fueling stop in Atlanta, putting the travel duration from Boston to College Station at over six hours.
Administrators from Boston College and Texas A&M, as well as the two schools’ respective conference liaisons, were in contact throughout Friday night into Saturday morning to try to resolve the issue and move the game time to Saturday night or shift the game date to Sunday to best ensure the safety and welfare of the BC student-athletes.
“The safety and well-being of our student-athletes is paramount. Under no circumstances will we put our student-athletes in harm’s way,” said Martin Jarmond, Boston College’s William V. Campbell Director of Athletics.
Initial conversations between the schools indicated that Reed Arena was available on Sunday to accommodate a rescheduled contest and Boston College’s intent was to start the home-and-home series this season in College Station.
I appreciate your work, thanks for all the great blog posts.