The weather has been miserable in North Texas for the Super Bowl this week, culminating on Friday when snow and ice sliding from the roof of Cowboys Stadium injured six people, one seriously.
Business has been disrupted. The Green Bay Packers and Pittsburgh Steelers have been forced indoors for practice this week. Travel plans for fans trying to get to Texas for the game have been disrupted.
It's been a big mess in Big D this week, and Jerry Jones' Super Bowl has been getting blasted by writers around the country.
Well, the Debacle in Dallas, where officials obviously are unprepared to handling the unexpectedly poor conditions, of course turns attention to what might happen in 2014. That, of course, is when the Super Bowl comes to New Meadowlands Stadium for the first true outdoor cold-weather Super Bowl.
Has the NFL set itself up for a nightmare like the one they are experiencing in Texas this week?
In a column this morning, Steve Politi of the Star-Ledger opined that New Jersey can host the best Super Bowl ever, regardless of the weather.
Well, here’s exactly what will happen: We’ll deal with it, just like we always do. Just because Texas was unprepared for winter doesn’t mean New Jersey won’t be ready for whatever Mother Nature brings when Super Bowl XLVIII brings its circus to East Rutherford.
"I think there’s a fundamental difference between us and Dallas," Mark Lamping, the Meadowlands CEO, told The Star-Ledger on Friday. "All of our plans are based on us having bad weather. Down here, they planned for bad weather, but those were contingency plans."
Those plans have left the sidewalks and streets covered in ice. Six fans were injured, one critically, when they were hit with ice chunks sliding off the Cowboy Stadium roof.
It’s been a rough week for Dallas, but nothing that has happened here has changed this fact: New Jersey can host the most anticipated, most watched, most memorable Super Bowl in history.If anything, seeing the Super Bowl in North Texas — and sizing up what’s coming in the next two years — has strengthened that. ...
The appeal remains the uniqueness of an outdoor game in winter conditions, the backdrop of the Manhattan skyline and the culture of the region.
New Jersey can still can be the best Super Bowl ever. And if it snows? Unlike Dallas, at least we have plows.
I have to agree with Politi here. The problem in North Texas this week is that the region is being hammered by unusual weather officials and road crews are not ready to handle. That won't be the case here.
No matter what the weather, the 2014 Super Bowl will be a great event.