NFL Ready to Get Super Bowl Played at Met Life
Super Bowl Monday. Super Bowl Wednesday.
Surely that sounds better than Super Bowl PPD.
The NFL says it's ready for next year's title
game at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey on Feb. 2, no matter the weather. Even if
it means moving the game from its traditional Sunday spot.
Concerns about contingencies arose recently for
two reasons: Next year's Super Bowl will be outdoors at a cold-weather site for
the first time and the Northeast is still recovering from a monster snowstorm
that hit last weekend; the lights went out in the Louisiana Superdome during
the Feb. 3 game, causing a 34-minute delay and some anxiety about whether it
would resume.
Several published reports said the NFL has
discussed changing the day of the game if weather complications arise. NFL
spokesman Brian McCarthy wouldn't offer specifics, but said Wednesday the
league will make whatever changes are necessary.
"We have had contingency plans for the
previous 47 Super Bowls," McCarthy said. 'We expect to play all games,
including the Super Bowl, as planned. ... We will be prepared if we have to
make adjustments."
The date of the Super Bowl has never been
changed. But plenty of regular-season games have because of weather. When the
Metrodome roof collapsed after a snowstorm in 2010, dates and sites changed for
several Minnesota Vikings home games.
Changing the date of a Super Bowl could be
dicey. If a blizzard hit on a Saturday, the day before the game, it might be
possible to move it to the following Tuesday, allowing time to dig out roads
and parking lots. If a storm was forecast for Super Bowl night, then perhaps
playing Saturday would be an option. Compounding this would be travel, hotel
and broadcast concerns.
"The main objective of the NFL and the
Host Committee is to be prepared for any and everything, with regard to
weather," Al Kelly, president of the NY/NJ Super Bowl Host Committee, said
in a statement. "We have been planning for all possibilities and are
creating various contingency plans to deal with each potential situation."
Kelly also said the current snow cleanup effort
is being upgraded to make sure the stadium crew is ready for anything.
"MetLife Stadium has excellent snow
clearing procedures," Kelly said. "Both states — New York and New
Jersey - and New York City have strong track records preparing for and handling
adverse weather conditions and we have every confidence that we will be
prepared."
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has said the
league will be able to deal with whatever weather emergencies might arise.
"We will be prepared for the weather
factors, and this community can do that," Goodell said in his state of the
NFL news conference in New Orleans on Feb. 1. "But the game of football is
made to be played in the elements. Now we hope they're not extreme on one hand,
but we'll be prepared for that if that's the case."
The National Weather Service said the average
high in nearby Newark, N.J., on Feb. 2 is 39.8 degrees and the low is 24.2. The
average precipitation on that date going back to 1931 is about one-eighth of an
inch.
The only significant precipitation during a
Super Bowl came in February 2007 at Miami. Playing in a rainstorm, Indianapolis
and Chicago committed four turnovers in the first quarter.
The record low for a Super Bowl kickoff is 39
degrees when Dallas beat Miami in January 1972 at Tulane Stadium in New
Orleans.
Source :
