ALL OF OUR INVESTIGATIVE RESOURCES HAVE BEEN THROWN TOWARD FIGURING OUT OR GETTING TO THE BOTTOM OF WHAT HAPPENED WITH THIS TERROR ATTACK. WE DO KNOW THAT WE’RE SUPPOSED TO HAVE THE SUGAR BOWL HERE THIS EVENING. BUT IN LIGHT OF THE 15 PEOPLE KILLED, THE DOZENS OF OTHERS HURT. THE SUGAR BOWL HAS BEEN RESCHEDULED TO 3 P.M. TOMORROW. WDSU SPORTS REPORTER KENDALL DUNCAN IS LIVE AT THE SUPERDOME. THAT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE FILLED WITH SOME AID, WITH THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE TONIGHT, KENDALL. YEAH, GINA, YOU MENTIONED IT AT THIS POINT TONIGHT. THE DOME WAS SUPPOSED TO BE FILLED WITH 83,000 COLLEGE FOOTBALL FANS FOR A PRIMETIME PLAYOFF SHOWDOWN, BUT INSTEAD, THE DOME SITS VACANT. THIS AFTER THE SUGAR BOWL POSTPONED THE GAME. AND REALLY AN UNPRECEDENTED MOVE. BUT IT’S A MOVE THAT FOOTBALL FANS AGREE WITH, KNOWING THAT SAFETY WAS AT THE FOREFRONT AS IT’S DEVELOPING AND THINGS ARE COMING OUT, YOU CAN’T PUT PEOPLE AT AT RISK, SO OBVIOUSLY THEY FOUND A LOT MORE THINGS PROBABLY IN THE LAST TEN HOURS THAN THEY DID, YOU KNOW, SO GOOD DECISION. ABSOLUTELY. I THINK DEFINITELY WITH ALL THE POLICE PRESENCE AND THE FAMILIES, THE FOOTBALL GAME CAN, YOU KNOW, THAT CAN TAKE PLACE ANOTHER DAY. THAT’S NOT WHAT’S IMPORTANT RIGHT NOW. NOW, BECAUSE OF THE 20 HOUR CHANGE IN GAME TIME, THOUSANDS OF FANS ARE LEFT DEALING WITH LOGISTICS AS THEY SCRAMBLE TO REBOOK FLIGHTS AND HOTEL ROOMS. WE WERE LEAVING TOMORROW, BUT WE WERE STAYING AT A WHAT IS IT, THE LE MERIDIEN? SO WE JUST STAYED ANOTHER NIGHT SO THAT WE CAN GO TO THE GAME. YEAH, I’M FROM CHICAGO, SO YEAH, I HAVE TO PUSH MY FLIGHT BACK A DAY. BOTH FAN BASES MAKING THOSE ADJUSTMENTS SO THEY CAN CHEER ON THEIR TEAM IN THE QUARTERFINAL PLAYOFF GAME. BUT THEY TELL ME THAT SAFETY WILL BE AT THE FOREFRONT OF THEIR MIND IN AND AROUND THE DOME. I MEAN, I’M A LITTLE NERVOUS. I TOLD MY HUSBAND EVEN YESTERDAY WITH THE PARADE, I WAS A LITTLE NERVOUS JUST BEFORE ALL THIS EVEN HAPPENED. JUST SO MANY PEOPLE IN ONE AREA. BUT I THINK IT’LL BE OKAY. I’M ACTUALLY GLAD IT’S DURING THE DAY. BETTER, YOU KNOW, BETTER THAN TOMORROW NIGHT JUST WITH IT BEING DARK AND YOU CAN BE MORE VIGILANT DURING THE DAY. SO I FEEL SAFE. EVERYTHING THEY CAN DO, SURE, IF THEY HOST THE GAME, THEN YEAH, WE FEEL SAFE. THEY WOULDN’T HOST IT IF IF IT WASN’T SAFE. WHILE A PART OF TWO OPPOSING FAN BASES, SUGAR BOWL ATTENDEES ECHOED ONE CLEAR MESSAGE I’M NOT GOING TO LIVE IN FEAR. YOU KNOW, WE CAME HERE TO SUPPORT THE DOGS AND THAT’S WHAT WE’RE GOING TO DO. YOU HAVE TO GO. YOU CAN’T LIVE IN FEAR. THAT’S NOT THE UNITED STATES. IF WE LET SOMEBODY FEAR US, THAT’S WHEN WE LOSE. ALL RIGHT. THE SUGAR BOWL ALSO SAYING ONE OF THE MAIN REASONS THEY POSTPONED THE GAME WAS TO ALLOW LAW ENFORCEMENT THAT WOULD NORMALLY WORK THE GAME TO FOCUS ON THE ATTACK. I’LL HAVE MUCH MORE ON THAT COMING UP LATER ON NEWSCAST.
Postponed Sugar Bowl played with enhanced security about 36 hours after terror attack in New Orleans
Updated: 10:19 PM EST Jan 2, 2025
By BRETT MARTEL AP Sports Writer
Georgia and Notre Dame fans packed a plaza adjacent to the Superdome and enjoyed music under clear skies — under the watch of snipers on rooftops — before filtering into the stadium for Thursday’s College Football Playoff quarterfinal at the Sugar Bowl.Video above: Thousands of fans in town for Sugar Bowl frantically change travel plans after game postponed“It was a lot of fun. It felt safe,” said Shannon Horsey, a Georgia fan in her 40s who lives in Austin, Texas. “Coming in they searched my bag thoroughly. So I felt like, OK, they’re really paying attention.”Horsey was in New Orleans with her husband, Joe, a 48-year-old Georgia graduate, and their teenage children, Jack and Zoe.They extended their stay after the game, originally scheduled for Wednesday night, was postponed because of an attack by a man who drove a pickup truck into crowds in the French Quarter, killing 14 New Year’s revelers before police killed the attacker in a shootout. Dozens more were injured.Notre Dame beat Georgia 23-10 in a game that concluded without incident amid the enhanced security.“We can see the presence up on the rooftop,” Horsey said, pointing at a sniper above Champions Square. “So, I kind of felt like this is probably one of the safest places to be in the city.”Joe Horsey said the pregame crowd was larger than he expected but he also found the “energy lower than a normal football game.”“You could sense the musicians trying to get people riled up. People are kind of going through the paces, a little bit in shock, but trying to make the best out of the day,” he said.It also seemed to Horsey that opposing fans were being a little more polite to one another than at a typical game.“SEC football can get nasty on game day and can get a little raucous,” he said. “But there’s a little different sense of civility and that there’s bigger things than football.”Flags were at half-staff outside nearby government buildings in memory of those killed in the attack, which has been labeled by authorities an act of terrorism.The attack occurred on Bourbon Street, which runs through the heart of the French Quarter and is famously lined with bars, restaurants and clubs, near the corner of Canal Street, a main downtown artery.The crime scene, which was gradually being cleared so it could be reopened to the public, is about a mile’s walk from the Superdome.Security was ramped up in and around the stadium.Police blocked regular traffic from passing by the main Superdome entrance on Poydras Street, an eight-lane downtown artery.A helicopter circled overhead.Security officers around the 70,000-seat stadium were handling dogs trained to sniff for explosive devices. They encircled cars entering the dome’s parking garage and in some cases sniffed bags and backpacks.The game, originally scheduled for 7:45 p.m. CST on Wednesday, was pushed back to 3 p.m. Thursday, about 36 hours after the attack. It was the first time the Sugar Bowl had been postponed in its 91-year history, although it was relocated at the end of the 2005 season because of Hurricane Katrina.The Superdome also is scheduled to host the Super Bowl on Feb. 9.Notre Dame advanced to the Jan. 9 Orange Bowl against Fiesta Bowl winner Penn State.Mark Oldani, a 58-year-old Nashville resident and 1988 graduate of Notre Dame, took a group photo for a gathering of Georgia fans in front of the venue.The crowd was “friendly, nobody yelling back and forth at each other,” he said. “I think everybody’s coming in hoping for a good game and wanting to make the most of a really difficult situation.”Before the singing of the national anthem, a moment of silence, lasting close to half a minute, was held.While many fans extended their stay to attend the game, the postponement meant some were able to attend because of travel plans that were deemed too expensive or logistically difficult to change.Numerous tickets were listed for resale online at prices as low as $23.Postponing the game “was absolutely the right call,” said Lisa Borrelli, a 34-year-old Philadelphia resident who came to New Orleans with her fiance, a 2011 Notre Dame graduate, but could not stay for the game.She said they paid more than $250 per ticket and weren’t sure if they’d bother listing them for resale because prices were so low.“Of course we’re disappointed to miss it and to lose so much money on it, but at the end of the day it doesn’t matter,” Borrelli said. “We’re fortunate enough that we’ll be fine.”
Georgia and Notre Dame fans packed a plaza adjacent to the Superdome and enjoyed music under clear skies — under the watch of snipers on rooftops — before filtering into the stadium for Thursday’s College Football Playoff quarterfinal at the Sugar Bowl.
Video above: Thousands of fans in town for Sugar Bowl frantically change travel plans after game postponed
“It was a lot of fun. It felt safe,” said Shannon Horsey, a Georgia fan in her 40s who lives in Austin, Texas. “Coming in they searched my bag thoroughly. So I felt like, OK, they’re really paying attention.”
Horsey was in New Orleans with her husband, Joe, a 48-year-old Georgia graduate, and their teenage children, Jack and Zoe.
They extended their stay after the game, originally scheduled for Wednesday night, was postponed because of an attack by a man who drove a pickup truck into crowds in the French Quarter, killing 14 New Year’s revelers before police killed the attacker in a shootout. Dozens more were injured.
Notre Dame beat Georgia 23-10 in a game that concluded without incident amid the enhanced security.
“We can see the presence up on the rooftop,” Horsey said, pointing at a sniper above Champions Square. “So, I kind of felt like this is probably one of the safest places to be in the city.”
Joe Horsey said the pregame crowd was larger than he expected but he also found the “energy lower than a normal football game.”
“You could sense the musicians trying to get people riled up. People are kind of going through the paces, a little bit in shock, but trying to make the best out of the day,” he said.
It also seemed to Horsey that opposing fans were being a little more polite to one another than at a typical game.
“SEC football can get nasty on game day and can get a little raucous,” he said. “But there’s a little different sense of civility and that there’s bigger things than football.”
Flags were at half-staff outside nearby government buildings in memory of those killed in the attack, which has been labeled by authorities an act of terrorism.
The attack occurred on Bourbon Street, which runs through the heart of the French Quarter and is famously lined with bars, restaurants and clubs, near the corner of Canal Street, a main downtown artery.
The crime scene, which was gradually being cleared so it could be reopened to the public, is about a mile’s walk from the Superdome.
Security was ramped up in and around the stadium.
Police blocked regular traffic from passing by the main Superdome entrance on Poydras Street, an eight-lane downtown artery.
A helicopter circled overhead.
Security officers around the 70,000-seat stadium were handling dogs trained to sniff for explosive devices. They encircled cars entering the dome’s parking garage and in some cases sniffed bags and backpacks.
The game, originally scheduled for 7:45 p.m. CST on Wednesday, was pushed back to 3 p.m. Thursday, about 36 hours after the attack. It was the first time the Sugar Bowl had been postponed in its 91-year history, although it was relocated at the end of the 2005 season because of Hurricane Katrina.
The Superdome also is scheduled to host the Super Bowl on Feb. 9.
Notre Dame advanced to the Jan. 9 Orange Bowl against Fiesta Bowl winner Penn State.
Mark Oldani, a 58-year-old Nashville resident and 1988 graduate of Notre Dame, took a group photo for a gathering of Georgia fans in front of the venue.
The crowd was “friendly, nobody yelling back and forth at each other,” he said. “I think everybody’s coming in hoping for a good game and wanting to make the most of a really difficult situation.”
Before the singing of the national anthem, a moment of silence, lasting close to half a minute, was held.
While many fans extended their stay to attend the game, the postponement meant some were able to attend because of travel plans that were deemed too expensive or logistically difficult to change.
Numerous tickets were listed for resale online at prices as low as $23.
Postponing the game “was absolutely the right call,” said Lisa Borrelli, a 34-year-old Philadelphia resident who came to New Orleans with her fiance, a 2011 Notre Dame graduate, but could not stay for the game.
She said they paid more than $250 per ticket and weren’t sure if they’d bother listing them for resale because prices were so low.
“Of course we’re disappointed to miss it and to lose so much money on it, but at the end of the day it doesn’t matter,” Borrelli said. “We’re fortunate enough that we’ll be fine.”
