The Georgia Bulldogs and Notre Dame Fighting Irish will play in the Sugar Bowl as part of the College Football Playoff quarterfinals on Thursday evening in the wake of a terror attack on Bourbon Street that left more than a dozen dead.
Sugar Bowl officials and lawmakers decided to postpone the game to 4 p.m. ET after it was set to be the final game of a three-game playoff slate on Wednesday. Both schools arrived in New Orleans on Sunday and were reportedly just blocks away from the carnage that struck the city.
Fans who came to the Big Easy scrambled to make their final plans with the game on hold.
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Lisa Borrelli, a 34-year-old Philadelphia resident and Notre Dame graduate, came to New Orleans with her fiancé to watch the Fighting Irish.
“We can’t get new flights,” she told The Associated Press, adding that she understood why officials postponed the game and that it was “absolutely the right call.”
Borrelli said they paid more than $250 per ticket and did not bother listing them on a third-party site because prices were so low. Early Thursday morning, tickets were going for as low as $26 on some sites.
“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.”
Darrell Huckaby, a 72-year-old Georgia resident, told the AP that he decided to return home on Thursday instead of staying for the game. He said he was in a room overlooking where the attack took place. He said he was asleep when it happened, but when he woke up, he saw blankets covering dead bodies.
Huckaby said he would “probably eat” the $360 per ticket he paid.
“It was heartbreaking,” he said. “I think the first instinct of most people this morning was wanting to be home. As important as football is to our Georgia culture, for a little while, the game just didn’t really seem to matter.
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“And I think there was a lot of uncertainty, and I understand,” Huckaby said. “It took them a long time to decide on the game time and people kind of had to make decisions without all the information.”
Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill told NBC News on Wednesday the game should be postponed to Friday.
“Not my decision, but I would like to see it delayed at least another day. If they asked my opinion, I would tell them that,” Murrill said. “I think that it was wise to delay it at least a day. This is an active crime scene, and they just finished removing some of the bodies, and they still haven’t removed all of them. I still think we need to wait an extra day.”
Georgia and Notre Dame players spent the day on lockdown, spending most of it in ballrooms going through meetings. Georgia players were bused to the Superdome for a walk-through practice on Wednesday evening.
Notre Dame players watched the Rose Bowl quarterfinal with their family. Notre Dame offered band members the option to fly home early and some chose to do so.
The terrorist attack left several injured, including a University of Georgia student.
“I am deeply saddened by the devastating attack in New Orleans overnight, and I extend my sincere condolences to the victims, their families, and all those affected by this terrible tragedy,” University of Georgia President Jere W. Morehead said in a statement.
“At this point, we have learned that a University of Georgia student was critically injured in the attack and is receiving medical treatment. I have spoken to the student’s family and shared my concern, support and well wishes on behalf of the entire UGA community. I would like to express my gratitude to all the first responders who moved so quickly to help those affected by this senseless act of violence, as well as to the medical personnel who are caring for the injured.”
The University of Georgia Athletic Association and officials from Notre Dame said both schools had accounted for all team personnel and members of official travel parties.
Security will be heightened for the game. The security perimeter around the facility was being “extended to a larger zone,” New Orleans City Council President Helena Moreno told WDSU-TV before the game was postponed.
“There are more police officers who are coming in,” she said.
The Caesars Superdome is also the host site for Super Bowl LIX.
The Superdome hosted the first Super Bowl after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. The city beefed up security then as well, with officers, including snipers, on the tops of surrounding high-rise buildings, as well as on the roof of the dome.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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