Several College Football Teams Offering Free Admission To Hurricane Florence Evacuees
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Ryan Mayer
As Hurricane Florence begins to make landfall in the Carolinas, millions of people have been evacuated from the expected path of the storm. Those displaced people have been offered places to stay by casinos, AirBnB, and other Good Samaritans.
Now, several college football teams are offering some solace in the form of free admission to their games on Saturday afternoon. It may not be the most important action taken, but it does offer a way for the evacuees to take the impact of the storm by giving them the option to spend a few hours watching football.
The University of Virginia, University of Tennessee and Kennesaw State University have all announced that they will be offering free admission to this weekend's games for evacuees.
In a statement, University of Tennessee athletic director Phil Fulmer summed up the reasoning for the decision.
"Our hearts go out to all the families whose lives have been impacted by the hurricanes and tropical storms along the Atlantic coast," Fulmer said. "One of our four pillars is warmth, and we feel this is an appropriate way to bring that to life. Certainly, a football game is relatively insignificant in comparison to the realities these evacuees are facing. But if we can provide just a few hours of distraction and normalcy for these families, I believe we should do all we can to make that possible for them."
The storm had been downgraded to a Category 2 as of last night, but meteorologists warn that it is still life-threatening.