Texas A&M head basketball coach Billy Kennedy was “perplexed” by it, but travel issues and weather forced Boston College and the Aggies to cancel a basketball game that was scheduled to take place in College Station, Texas, on Saturday. However, the mere fact that the game wasn’t played isn’t the end of the story. According to Yahoo Sports, conflicting narratives about what happened leave questions about how the situation will ultimately be resolved.
Massive rainfall soaked the Texas A&M campus and the surrounding area on Friday, the day Boston College had planned to travel ahead of Saturday’s tip. A Boston College statement read:
“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 [Saturday]’s game has been cancelled.”
Yahoo Sports reports that the decision not to fly was made despite other planes landing at the rainy airport. A&M officials also reportedly urged B.C. to fly to another Texas city and bus to College Station, but B.C. officials cited both the charter pilot and the airline warning that such travel would be unsafe.
Ultimately a compromise was reached that would have pushed the game back two hours, but that decision was reportedly made with too little time to pull it off. By then, a number of logistical hurdles including finals at A&M made it clear that the contest would be called off.
After A&M officials sought a forfeit for the cancellation, the NCAA ruled that the game would be deemed “no contest.” Texas A&M offered to refund fans for tickets.
Lawyers for both sides are gearing up for what could become a breach of contract case.
