The Florida Gators have been preparing for Salt Lake City’s altitude.
But first, they have to navigate a storm.
Tropical Storm Idalia is expected to be a Category 3 hurricane by the time it makes landfall in Florida on Wednesday. With the storm threatening to close airports, the Gators were forced to change their travel plans.
The team had planned to leave Wednesday for Utah, “at least in part due to an effort to minimize the team’s exposure to high altitude,” 247Sports reported. Instead the team will fly to Dallas on Tuesday before heading on to Salt Lake City on Wednesday, the site reported.
Then Florida will have to deal with another matter.
Rice-Eccles Stadium sits 4,637 feet above sea level. Florida’s Ben Hill Griffin Stadium sits at 154 feet.
Gators head coach Billy Napier said he consulted with sports scientists to see how to handle Utah’s elevation. The original plan was for his team to leave on Wednesday and play the next day without much acclimation time.
“All indications tell us to stay in your normal routine,” Napier said on Friday. “It really takes 10 days to get adjusted. Get in, get out. We’ve met with a lot of NFL teams regarding that. So we feel good about our plan.”
Napier said he isn’t overly concerned.
“I think it’s more about the football, you know?” he said. “I mean, it’s like the altitude, obviously, everybody likes to talk about that. But Coach Whittingham’s teams and the way they play football [are] ultimately more important than that.
He added: “Playing at Utah, it’s really more about the program and what they’ve established there. We respect that. They’ve got a fantastic record at home. It is an opener. It’s a red-out. We understand they’ll be at full capacity. There will be some Gators out there too, I’d imagine.”
