Winter Storm Forces Widespread Pro, College Game Postponements

A large-scale winter storm covering much of the U.S. continues to wreak havoc on the sports world, forcing more game cancellations and postponements Sunday. 

Winter Storm Fern, stretching from New Mexico to New England and affecting nearly 200 million people, was beginning to move off the East Coast by Sunday night. By the time that happened, though, many more games were affected by the massive storm that covered much of the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic in ice while dumping nearly two feet of snow in parts of the Northeast.

Among the latest impacts:

• A home game in Memphis for the NBA’s Grizzlies against the Nuggets was postponed, with a new date to be announced. The Grizzlies are scheduled to be in Houston on Monday to play the Rockets. 
• A Bucks home game in Milwaukee against Dallas was similarly postponed as the Mavericks were unable to leave Texas because of inclement weather there. A new date for that game also hasn’t been determined. The Mavericks twice attempted, unsuccessfully, to depart. 
• The NBA moved up the start times of two games Monday due to weather issues. A Pacers-Hawks game will begin at 1:30 p.m. ET, while the 76ers-Hornets game will start at 3 p.m. ET. 
• The NBA G League rescheduled a Monday game between the Memphis Hustle and Stockton Kings in Southaven, Miss., to Feb. 19. 
• A top-flight women’s college basketball game between No. 17 Tennessee and No. 18 Ole Miss that was set for Monday has been postponed. A new date has not yet been set. 
• The Volunteers’ men’s basketball team has suffered a similar fate, as a Tuesday game against No. 21 Georgia is now happening on Wednesday. 
• Dozens of smaller schools made similar moves of games to new dates or start times.

The latest shifts follow hundreds of others made late last week in anticipation of the storm. Hundreds of colleges, in particular, will be spending the next several weeks working through the scheduled adjustments that this storm forced. 

Snow Globe Game

Denver was not in the direct line of Winter Storm Fern, certainly by late Sunday afternoon, but heavy snow still disrupted the final quarter of the AFC championship game—won by the Patriots 10–7 over the Broncos. 

The game began with sunny, but cold, conditions, and after halftime, snow began to fall. By the fourth quarter, as snowfall intensified and the temperature dropped to 16 degrees, grounds crews needed snowblowers to clear the hashmarks. 

As that was happening, CBS briefly attempted to use digitally rendered yard lines in its broadcast. The network, however, quickly abandoned that when the virtual lines caused players from both teams, particularly the Patriots dressed in white, to appear translucent. 

“It’s low visibility,” said CBS play-by-play announcer Jim Nantz after a punt that was particularly difficult to track in the snow. “I’d love to tell you exactly where they marked the football. But, folks, it would just be a wild guess.”

As power outages grew Sunday across the country, particularly in the Southeast, the storm could prove to be a boon to the final viewership for both the AFC title game and the subsequent NFC championship game, played between the Rams and Seahawks.