The NFL on Saturday postponed the start of today’s Tennessee Titans-Houston Texans game in Nashville by an hour because of rolling power outages in the state due to the massive winter storm hitting most of the U.S.
The game, which was to begin at 1 p.m. ET, has been scheduled to start now at 2:02 p.m. ET. The league said Nashville Mayor John Cooper requested the postponement in solidarity with other local workers who were asked to reduce power.
Tennessee has been in the midst of rolling blackouts state-wide because of the deadly storm, which had forced more than 1,800 flight cancellations and 3,300 flight delays nationwide just today, according to FlightAware. An estimated 1.7 million in the U.S. are without power, according to Poweroutage.us.
The temperature at kickoff in Nashville is forecast to be 18 degrees.
“Due to the extreme weather and power outages affecting our region, kickoff for today’s game has been postponed one hour to 1 p.m. CT,” the Titans said in a statement. “This decision was made in partnership with the NFL, Office of Emergency Management, Nashville Electric Service and the Mayor’s Office in an abundance of caution to ensure that the game would not negatively impact our community in any way. We are exploring every possibility to minimize non-essential power around the stadium. Gates are currently open and fans are welcome to enter.”
The NFL has 11 games scheduled for Saturday ahead of three games on Christmas Day — all in cities (Miami, Los Angeles and Glendale, AZ) that have escaped the dangerously cold winter conditions blanketing the Midwest and Eastern U.S.
The night before in Nashville, the NHL’s Predators-Avalanche game at Bridgestone Arena was powered solely by generators, after games in Ottawa and Buffalo were postponed altogether. The Titans’ Nissan Stadium also has generator power.