Georgia, Notre Dame fans make a decision on the Sugar Bowl as the game is postponed due to a terrorist attack
The Georgia Bulldogs and Notre Dame Fighting Irish will play in the Sugar Bowl in the quarterfinals of the College Football Playoff on Thursday night after terrorist attack on Bourbon Street which left more than a dozen dead.
Sugar Bowl officials and lawmakers decided to postpone the game to 4:00 PM ET after what was supposed to be the final game 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 hit the city.
Fans who came to the Big Easy were making their final plans with the game on hold.
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A police officer on horseback arrives on Canal Street after a vehicle plowed into a crowd earlier in New Orleans on Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Kevin McGill)
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 decision.”
Borrelli said they paid more than $250 per ticket and didn’t bother to list them on third-party sites because the prices were so low. As of early Thursday morning, tickets were going for as much as $26 on some sites.
“Of course we’re disappointed that we missed it and that we lost so much money on it, but at the end of the day it doesn’t matter,” Borrelli said. “We’re lucky enough to be fine.”
Darrell Huckaby, a 72-year-old Georgia resident, told the AP he decided to return home 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 covered with dead bodies.
Huckaby said he would “probably eat” the $360 per ticket he paid.
“It was heartbreaking,” he said. “I think most people’s first instinct this morning was to want to be home. As important as football is to our culture in Georgia, for a while the game just didn’t matter.
Fans wait in line at the front desk of the Sheraton Hotel after the Sugar Bowl CFP quarterfinal between Georgia and Notre Dame was postponed following the attack on Bourbon Street in New Orleans on January 1, 2025. (Geoff Burke-Imagn Images)
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“And I think there was a lot of uncertainty, and I understand that,” Huckaby said. “They took a long time to decide on game time and people kind of had to make decisions without all the information.”
Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill he told NBC News Wednesday’s game should be postponed to Friday.
“It’s not my decision, but I’d like it to be delayed at least another day. If they asked me for my opinion, I’d tell them that,” Murrill said. “I think it was smart to delay it for at least a day. This is an active crime scene and they just finished removing some bodies and still haven’t taken them all out. I still think it should wait an extra day.”
Georgia and Notre Dame players spent the day in isolation, spending much of it in ballrooms going through meetings. Georgia players were bussed to the Superdome for practice on Wednesday night.
Notre Dame players watched the quarterfinals of the Rose Bowl with their families. Notre Dame offered band members the option to fly home early, and some chose to do so.
Several were injured in the terrorist attack, including a University of Georgia student.
“I am deeply saddened by the devastating attack that occurred overnight in New Orleans and offer 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.
Sugar Bowl fans from the University of Georgia and Notre Dame stop to take photos as New Orleans police and federal agents investigate a possible terrorist attack on Bourbon Street in New Orleans on New Year’s Day, Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025. (Chris Granger/The New Orleans Advocate via AP)
“At this time, we have learned that a University of Georgia student was critically injured in the attack and is receiving medical attention. I have spoken with 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 first responders who have moved so quickly to help those affected by this senseless act of violence, as well as the medical staff caring for the injured.”
The University of Georgia Athletic Association and Notre Dame officials said both schools have registered all team personnel and members on business trips.
Security will be beefed up for the game. The security perimeter around the facility was “expanded to a larger zone,” New Orleans City Council President Helena Moreno told WDSU-TV before the game was postponed.
“More police are coming,” she said.
Caesars Superdome also hosts Super Bowl LIX.
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The Superdome hosted the first Super Bowl after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. The city stepped up security even then, with police officers, including snipers, on the tops of surrounding high-rises, as well as on the roof of the dome.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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