In a bizarre incident at Lumen Field, the game between the Seattle Seahawks and Atlanta Falcons was paused due to an unlicensed drone sighting above the stadium.
With the game at 27-23 in the Falcons’ favor in the fourth quarter, the referees stopped the game. They advised players to head to the sidelines while the issue was being resolved. The game was paused for about nine minutes as security personnel took care of the situation.
Eventually, the game resumed, and the delay seemed to affect the players as the Falcons, who were within striking distance of the redzone, fumbled and lost possession of the ball.
Washington-Stanford game delayed due to drone
A similar incident took place during Saturday night’s college football game between the Washington Huskies and the Stanford Cardinals. Much like the game between the Seahawks and the Falcons, the drone hovered above Husky Stadium in the fourth quarter.
Stanford coach David Shaw spotted the flying object and alerted officials, who paused the game to investigate the matter. It was first speculated that it was owned by the Fox Network, which had been authorized to use it during the USFL season. But play-by-play announcer Alex Faust clarified that the network had nothing to do with the hovering device.
The Seattle-Atlanta game has been stopped for an unidentified drone over the field! Could this be the same drone??? twitter.com/redditcfb/stat…
Husky Field, the venue for the game between Washington and Stanford on Saturday night, is 5.9 miles away from Lumen Field, where it appeared on Sunday. While unconfirmed, many on social media are speculating that the drone that hovered above Lumen Field on Sunday is the one that appeared in the night sky above Husky Field on Saturday.
While the incidents caused nothing more than game delays, they did cause a moment of panic among security personnel present at both venues.
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