Miami to pay Arkansas State $400,000, settles lawsuit over canceled 2017 game due to Hurricane Irma
Miami and Arkansas State reached a settlement on Wednesday, resolving their months-long dispute over their canceled football game last year due to Hurricane Irma.
Arkansas State announced in a release that Miami agreed to pay $400,000, and the canceled game will not be rescheduled.
“I am pleased that both lawsuits have been resolved and that this matter is now behind us,” Arkansas State attorney Brad Phelps said in a statement, via the South Florida Sun Sentinel. “I believe this is a fair resolution of these issues.”
Arkansas State sued Miami in February for $650,000 in damages after it failed to reschedule the canceled game. The schools were originally scheduled to play on Sept. 9, 2017 in Jonesboro, Arkansas, but that game was canceled ahead of Hurricane Irma — which made landfall as a category 4 storm — due to concerns about the team traveling home to South Florida after the game. The game was the second part of a home-and-home series between the two schools. Arkansas State played at Miami in 2014.
Miami also rescheduled its game with Florida State last season due to the storm.
Miami offered to reschedule the game sometime between 2024-2028, though Phelps said earlier this year that this “was not workable for and would be detrimental to Arkansas State University.”
Arkansas State was attempting to reschedule the game in either 2020 or 2021.
Miami athletic director Blake James confirmed the settlement, but declined to provide details. Per the Miami Herald, the university settled on $400,000 after estimating it would have cost that much in legal fees and other costs had this matter not been resolved.
“I am aware of Arkansas State’s position on this matter,” James told the Sun Sentinel. “We believe strongly in our standing and will not comment further as both parties’ attorneys bring this to resolution.”
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