The NHL's Tampa Bay Lightning left Florida before Hurricane Milton to practice the rest of the week in the Raleigh, North Carolina, area for their season opener against the Carolina Hurricanes on Friday night.
Milton, currently a Category 5 hurricane, is expected to make landfall in the Tampa Bay area on Wednesday night. It had maximum sustained winds of 165 mph Tuesday afternoon, and forecasters warned of a storm surge of up to 15 feet in Tampa Bay, prompting evacuation orders for coastal communities along the Gulf Coast. Florida.
The Lightning's home opener, also against Carolina, is scheduled for Saturday night and is proceeding as scheduled for now.
The NFL's Buccaneers made a similar decision and decided to travel early to New Orleans for their game against the Saints on Sunday.
It is the third time in the last seven years that the Bucs have moved their operations to another area to avoid bad weather.
The Glazer family, which owns the Bucs, booked two planes for a travel party of about 350 people and 31 mascots that included players, coaches and staff who would normally travel to a road game. Staff also had the opportunity to include their immediate family members and pets.
The team also purchased more than 200 hotel rooms in the Orlando and Gainesville areas for employees and families who wanted to evacuate their homes before the storm.
An NBA preseason game in Miami, which is not expected to experience hurricane conditions but strong gusts of wind and several inches of rain, between the Heat and the Atlanta Hawks was postponed from Thursday to Oct. 16.
Tropicana Field, home of MLB's Tampa Bay Rays, has been designated as a staging site for first responders and state and local emergency management services assisting with debris removal. The St. Petersburg baseball stadium has been prepared to seat 10,000 people, with cots installed on the playing surface.
At the college level, the American Athletic Conference announced that the football game between Memphis and South Florida at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa was rescheduled from Friday night to Saturday.
South Florida will move its soccer team to Orlando later Tuesday, coach Alex Golesh said.
The conference plans to monitor conditions after Milton's passing and adjust accordingly.
UCF's Big 12 home football game against Cincinnati remains scheduled for Saturday's 3:30 p.m. ET kickoff in Orlando.
The Knights rescheduled events in several other sports, including moving UCF's home volleyball game against Colorado from Wednesday night to Sunday. UCF and Arizona moved the location of Thursday's women's soccer game from Orlando to Houston. With Arizona scheduled to play at Houston on Sunday and UCF scheduled to play at Colorado the same day, the teams agreed to play Thursday's game in Texas.
The UCF men's soccer game against Marshall was rescheduled from Friday night to Sunday. Other postponed college events include a women's soccer game in Boca Raton between Florida Atlantic and Rice; It was scheduled for Thursday and will now be played on October 17.
The LPGA postponed qualifying for its Q-Series, which was to begin Sunday and run through Oct. 18 in Venice, Florida, at Plantation Golf and Country Club, and said in a statement that the safety of athletes, caddies, staff, volunteers and the local community are the top priority. The LPGA will announce an update after the storm.
“Our thoughts are with the entire Florida community as we prepare for the storm,” the LPGA said.
Countless high school sporting events scheduled in Florida were also canceled. In many counties, officials were waiting to see what would happen with football games scheduled for Thursday and Friday.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
