Sugar Bowl between Georgia and Notre Dame postponed after deadly truck attack
CTV
The College Football Playoff quarterfinal at the Sugar Bowl between Georgia and Notre Dame was postponed a day because of an attack near the Superdome early Wednesday, when authorities say a truck driver deliberately plowed into a New Year’s crowd and killed 15 people.
The College Football Playoff quarterfinal at the Sugar Bowl between Georgia and Notre Dame was postponed a day because of an attack about a mile away from the Superdome early Wednesday, when authorities say a truck driver deliberately plowed into a New Year’s crowd and killed 15 people.
The game, originally scheduled for 7:45 p.m. CST at the 70,000-seat Superdome on Wednesday, was pushed back to 3 p.m. Thursday. The winner advances to the Jan. 9 Orange Bowl against Penn State.
“Public safety is paramount,” Sugar Bowl CEO Jeff Hundley said at a media briefing alongside federal, state and local officials, including Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry and New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell. “All parties all agree that it's in the best interest of everybody and public safety that we postpone the game."
The casualties occurred when a driver rammed a pickup truck into a crowd of revelers in New Orleans’ famed French Quarter early on New Year’s Day. In addition to those killed, more than 30 people were injured. The driver was killed in a firefight with police following the attack at about 3:15 a.m. along Bourbon Street near Canal Street, the FBI said.
The decision to postpone the game meant numerous traveling fans with tickets would not be able to attend. Ticket prices online plummeted in some cases to less than US$25 as fans with plans to depart on Thursday tried to unload them.
“We can't get new flights,” said Lisa Borrelli, a 34-year-old Philadelphia resident who came to New Orleans with her fiance, a 2011 Notre Dame graduate.
Postponing the game “was absolutely the right call,” she said. “I completely understand.”
