On Tuesday evening, the NFL announced that Thursday night’s preseason game between the Texans and Cowboys would be moved from hurricane-ravaged Houston to AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. All tickets would cost $25, and all proceeds would be donated to the United Way of Greater Houston Relief Fund.
On Wednesday, the league reversed course: Per NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport and Mike Garafolo, the game now has been canceled so that the Texans’ players can return to their families in Houston.
Some Houston players have been in the city all along. The Texans were in New Orleans when Hurricane Harvey hit Houston and then flew to Dallas for continued practices after Saturday’s preseason game against the Saints. But the 10 injured players who didn’t accompany the team to New Orleans last Wednesday - wide receivers DeAndre Hopkins, Will Fuller and Braxton Miller and running backs D’Onta Foreman and Akeem Hunt among them - waited out the storm in Houston. Some needed to be moved from their flooded homes to a hotel near NRG Stadium.
“We’ve stayed in touch with everybody two or three times a day to reach them,” Texans Coach Bill O’Brien said Tuesday, per the Houston Chronicle. “Sometimes, the issue is the cell service, not being able to reach them on their phone. We’re doing the best we can. I don’t want to mention specific names.
“Some guys are in areas that have been hit harder than other areas. Some guys, we were able to move to the Holiday Inn across from the stadium. Some other guys are in tough areas, relative to the flood. We’re doing the best we can to stay in touch and do what we can to help them.”
According to John McClain of the Houston Chronicle, more than 40,000 tickets had been sold for Thursday night’s game in the Dallas area. No word yet on a refund policy.
The Texans-Cowboys game isn’t the only one that could be affected by Harvey, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports on Twitter:
“There are now discussions about whether to play Thursday night’s Ravens-Saints game in New Orleans due to Harvey, per a league source.”
