The Magic vs. Pelicans game is the second NBA preseason matchup to be affected by Milton. A game scheduled for Thursday in Miami between the Heat and the Atlanta Hawks has been postponed until Oct. 16 due to storm concerns.
ORLANDO, Fla. — Concerns about <a href="http://www.archysport.com/2024/10/live-video-of-hurricane-miltons-arrival-in-florida/" title="Live video of Hurricane Milton's arrival in Florida“>Hurricane Milton and its effects in Florida forced the match cancellation Friday’s preseason game in Orlando between Magic and the New Orleans Pelicanssaid the NBA.
The match will not be rescheduled.
Orlando was playing in San Antonio on Wednesday night and was scheduled to return to central Florida on Thursday. A team spokesperson said the Magic will now stay one more day in San Antonio before departing on Friday.
Forecasters say the hurricane is scheduled to make landfall somewhere on Florida’s Gulf Coast sometime late Wednesday or early Thursday.
The Magic-Pelicans game is the second NBA preseason matchup to be affected by Milton. A game scheduled for Thursday in Miami between the Heat and the Atlanta Hawks has been postponed until Oct. 16 due to storm concerns. Also canceled earlier this week: a rescheduled NHL preseason game for Friday in Tampa between the Lightning and Predators, which was originally going to be played last month and was postponed due to Hurricane Helene.
“Stay safe Florida!” former Tampa Bay Lightning star Steven Stamkos, who is entering his first season with Nashville, posted on social media Wednesday. “Thinking about all the amazing people in the Tampa area right now.”
Countless college and high school events in Florida have also been canceled or postponed because of the storm, which forecasters say is likely to bring torrential rain across a wide swath of the state.
For now, two exhibitions planned by Simone Biles and other Olympic gymnasts, part of the “Gold Over America Tour”the acronym that not coincidentally spells GOAT in a nod to Biles’ status as the greatest of all time in the sport, are still standing this weekend. The tour is scheduled to arrive in Sunrise, the home of the Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers, on Friday and then move to Orlando on Saturday.
Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Florida, which is north of Miami, is scheduled to resume live racing on Friday. Saturday’s college football game between Cincinnati and Orlando to face UCF remains on, and the Memphis-South Florida game in Tampa was rescheduled earlier this week to be played on Saturday.
UCF and USF officials have said more decisions will be made, if necessary, once the storm passes.
Information from Michael C. Wright of ESPN and The Associated Press was used in this story.
