Air Force hopes to continue playing if government shuts down again

Air Force athletic director Jim Knowlton said Friday at a news conference that the academy is in a much better position to continue to play scheduled games should another federal government shutdown take place.

He said the Air Force Academy Athletic Corporation notified him it has funding available to allow games to be played in the event of another shutdown. The current spending bill to keep the government open expires Feb. 8.

Knowlton didn’t offer specifics regarding how much money would be available, which games could be played, and which would be in the most danger of being canceled. Air Force canceled its sporting events Jan. 20, the first full day of the most recent government shutdown.

“From a process perspective, we’re really in a great position to be able to continue with many of our events as long as we can do them safely and guarantee that we can conduct them with the standard we expect of all of our events,” Knowlton said.

The UNLV men’s and women’s basketball teams are scheduled to play the Falcons on Feb. 14, so there is a possibility those games would be postponed or canceled if another shutdown takes place.

Should a prolonged government shutdown occur, UNLV-Air Force events that could be jeopardized include baseball games March 16 to 18 and April 13 t0 15 and a men’s tennis match April 6.

The Air Force men’s and women’s swim teams were in Las Vegas on Jan. 20 when that meet was canceled, and it will not be made up.

“It has been a challenging time for the academy and cadets,” UNLV athletic director Desiree Reed-Francois said. “The Air Force athletics department is back to normal operations, and they have a plan in place to play the games should there be another government shutdown. However, we will continue to monitor the situation and will stay in contact with our Air Force Academy colleagues should this change.”

Contact Mark Anderson at manderson@reviewjournal.com. Follow @markanderson65 on Twitter.