What Hurricane Helene could mean for Sunday’s Eagles-Bucs game

Helene, forecast to mutate into a Category 3 “major” hurricane with peak winds of 115 mph, is expected to make landfall on the Big Bend region of the Florida Gulf Coast late Thursday night.

Thursday morning it was about 320 miles southwest of Tampa and was due to travel north-northeast in the Gulf of Mexico, passing well west of the Tampa Bay region, according to the National Hurricane Center. However, the hurricane center warned of storm surge waves along the entire Floridawest coast

A tropical storm warning was in effect for the Tampa Bay region, with gusts past 55 mph possible Thursday, the National Weather Service said.

Conditions should improve Friday.

Delta Airlines, American Airlines, JetBlue, Spirit Airlines, Alaska Airlines, Southwest Airlines, Frontier Airlines, and United Airlines have issued waivers for travelers flying to Tampa, Orlando, Cancun, and other impacted cities to rebook their tickets without a change fee or a fare difference.

But while airlines are offering vouchers, fans with tickets would still need to sell them on the secondary market.

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The game is scheduled for 1 p.m. Sunday, and the hurricane should be long gone by then. Neither coach has shared that he sees a postponement or a move to a different site as a possibility.

The only weather-related postponement in 2023-24 was the Buffalo Bills-Pittsburgh Steelers wild-card game, which was moved from Sunday to Monday due to severe weather in Buffalo. The Bills also had a game moved to Ford Field in Detroit in 2022 due to severe winter weather.

In 2021, the New Orleans Saints’ opener was moved to Jacksonville, Fla., due to the aftermath of Hurricane Ida.

Showers and thunderstorms are still possible in the Tampa region on Sunday, so it might be a wet one no matter what.

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Coach Todd Bowles said Wednesday the team plans to practice Thursday but will move it indoors. Some scheduled meetings may move to Friday, but otherwise the team’s plan is to maintain its normal practice schedule ahead of Sunday’s game.

“It definitely puts us inside,” Bowles said. “Right now the schedule’s the same, maybe it’ll change meetings in the afternoon, as far as making it up on Friday with an extra hour or so, but we’ll definitely be inside. If the weather changes, we’ll see how bad it gets.”

The Bucs’ home, Raymond James Stadium, is one of four NFL stadiums that FEMA selected to be used as a shelter during a hurricane or other extreme-weather event. It’s unknown whether the stadium will need to be activated as a disaster relief site for Hurricane Helene, but local officials “already have some idea” of how they would use the space if needed, FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell told the Washington Post.

Some Buccaneers players, like Baker Mayfield, said their families plan to evacuate the area.

“As I’m learning here, you wait to see the direction of the storm and go from there,” Mayfield said. “Thoughts and prayers with everybody. It’s going to be a tough storm for a lot of people. Got to play it safe, got to be smart, listen to the mandates. ... We’re waiting to see, but most likely, yeah, [we’ll evacuate].”