Miami-Florida State Game Rescheduled for Sept. 10
Sept. 2, 2004
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – The season-opening game between Miami and Florida State, which was scheduled to be played Monday night in the Orange Bowl, has been postponed because of Hurricane Frances and will be played on Friday night, Sept. 10 at 8 p.m.
The decision was made in a conference call at 4 p.m. this afternoon between Miami athletic director Paul Dee, Florida State athletic director Dave Hart, Atlantic Coast Conference commissioner John Swofford and ABC-TV officials.
“Our biggest concern is for the safety of anyone who is in the path of Hurricane Frances, and we felt the appropriate thing to do is to reschedule the game,” said Dee. “We are pleased that the game has been rescheduled to such a desirable time period and that it will still be in prime time television so that college football fans across the nation can watch the Hurricanes and the Seminoles play.”
ACC Commissioner John D. Swofford commented on the rescheduling of the game: “The first priority in deciding to postpone and reschedule the Florida State at Miami football game was public safety. The course of Hurricane Frances has been monitored for days now and should it continue on its current path, it would directly affect the safety of numerous student-athletes, institutional personnel, fans and the residents of Florida. Our top priority is the issue of public safety for everyone.
“After discussing rescheduling options with Miami and Florida State, and considering the fact that this game was to be telecast nationally by ABC, it has been agreed that the game will be rescheduled for Friday night, September 10, at 8:00 p.m. Fortunately, both teams have open dates scheduled for that weekend and both universities agreed that their preference was to play on Friday night given the circumstances at hand.
“In regards to our Conference position against televising games on Friday nights, we discussed this with Charlie Adams, the Executive Director for the North Carolina High School Athletic Association, who works with us in coordinating our efforts with the various High School Athletic Associations in our geographic footprint. We appreciate the understanding and support of the high school leadership with this extreme circumstance that will not change the conference’s position on playing regularly-scheduled conference football games on Friday night.
“As much as we anticipate this game between these great rivals, public safety and welfare obviously outweigh any other considerations. At the appropriate time, we will once again turn our attention to the excitement and anticipation of this ACC match-up.”
