MYNORTHWEST NEWS

If a big storm rolls in on Super Bowl Sunday, the game time would move

Jan 22, 2014, 7:19 AM | Updated: 3:48 pm

Workers shovel snow off the seats at MetLife Stadium as crews removed snow ahead of Super Bowl XLVIII following a snow storm, Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2014, in East Rutherford, N.J. Super Bowl XLVIII, which will be played between the Denver Broncos and the Seattle Seahawks on Feb. 2, will be the first NFL title game held outdoors in a city where it snows. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez) Cold weather gear, which will be given to people attending Super Bowl Super Bowl XLVII, are on display during a news conference at MetLife Stadium, Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2014, in East Rutherford, N.J. Super Bowl XLVIII, which will be played between the Denver Broncos and the Seattle Seahawks on Feb. 2, will be the first NFL title game held outdoors in a city where it snows. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez) A football with the Super Bowl XLVIII logo is set on a mound of snow as an for an NFL photographer to make photos of it as workers shovel snow off the seating area at MetLife Stadium as crews removed snow ahead of Super Bowl XLVIII following a snow storm, Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2014, in East Rutherford, N.J. Super Bowl XLVIII, which will be played between the Denver Broncos and the Seattle Seahawks on Feb. 2, will be the first NFL title game held outdoors in a city where it snows. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez) Bergen Record newspaper photographers Tyson Trish, left, and Thomas Franklin, shoot images of a football with the Super Bowl XLVIII logo set on a mound of snow as workers shovel snow off the seating area at MetLife Stadium as crews removed snow ahead of Super Bowl XLVIII following a snow storm, Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2014, in East Rutherford, N.J. Super Bowl XLVIII, which will be played between the Denver Broncos and the Seattle Seahawks on Feb. 2, will be the first NFL title game held outdoors in a city where it snows. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez) Workers labor on the field's sideline at MetLife Stadium as crews removed snow ahead of Super Bowl XLVIII following a snow storm, Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2014, in East Rutherford, N.J. Super Bowl XLVIII, which will be played between the Denver Broncos and the Seattle Seahawks on Feb. 2, will be the first NFL title game held outdoors in a city where it snows. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez) In this photograph taken with a fisheye lens, snow is accumulated on the seats and on the field of MetLife Stadium as crews removed snow ahead of Super Bowl XLVIII following a snow storm, Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2014, in East Rutherford, N.J. Super Bowl XLVIII, which will be played between the Denver Broncos and the Seattle Seahawks on Feb. 2, will be the first NFL title game held outdoors in a city where it snows. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez) Workers shovel snow off the seates at MetLife Stadium as crews removed snow ahead of Super Bowl XLVIII following a snow storm, Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2014, in East Rutherford, N.J. Super Bowl XLVIII, which will be played between the Denver Broncos and the Seattle Seahawks on Feb. 2, will be the first NFL title game held outdoors in a city where it snows. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez) Workers shovel snow off the seating area at MetLife Stadium as crews removed snow ahead of Super Bowl XLVIII following a snow storm, Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2014, in East Rutherford, N.J. Super Bowl XLVIII, which will be played between the Denver Broncos and the Seattle Seahawks on Feb. 2, will be the first NFL title game held outdoors in a city where it snows. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez) Workers driving small tractors, right, plow snow off a tarp covering the field at MetLife Stadium as a tent protects the end zone area ahead of Super Bowl XLVIII as crews removed snow following a snow storm, Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2014, in East Rutherford, N.J. Super Bowl XLVIII, which will be played between the Denver Broncos and the Seattle Seahawks on Feb. 2, will be the first NFL title game held outdoors in a city where it snows. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez) Workers shovel snow off the seating area at MetLife Stadium as crews removed snow ahead of Super Bowl XLVIII following a snow storm, Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2014, in East Rutherford, N.J. Super Bowl XLVIII, which will be played between the Denver Broncos and the Seattle Seahawks on Feb. 2, will be the first NFL title game held outdoors in a city where it snows. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez) A person walks with a shovel on the field at MetLife Stadium near a tent protecting the end zone area as crews removed snow ahead of Super Bowl XLVIII following a snow storm, Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2014, in East Rutherford, N.J. Super Bowl XLVIII, which will be played between the Denver Broncos and the Seattle Seahawks on Feb. 2, will be the first NFL title game held outdoors in a city where it snows. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez) Workers shovel snow from the seats at MetLife Stadium as crews removed snow ahead of Super Bowl XLVIII following a snow storm, Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2014, in East Rutherford, N.J. Super Bowl XLVIII, which will be played between the Denver Broncos and the Seattle Seahawks on Feb. 2, will be the first NFL title game held outdoors in a city where it snows. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez) Snow is accumulated on the seats at MetLife Stadium as crews removed snow ahead of Super Bowl XLVIII following a snow storm, Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2014, in East Rutherford, N.J. Super Bowl XLVIII, which will be played between the Denver Broncos and the Seattle Seahawks on Feb. 2, will be the first NFL title game held outdoors in a city where it snows. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez) Tractors plow snow off the parking lot of MetLife Stadium near a tent which will serve as an access point into Super Bowl XLVIII as crews removed snow following a snow storm, Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2014, in East Rutherford, N.J. Super Bowl XLVIII, which will be played between the Denver Broncos and the Seattle Seahawks on Feb. 2, will be the first NFL title game held outdoors in a city where it snows. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez) Snow is accumulated near an entrance to MetLife Stadium following a snow storm, Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2014, in East Rutherford, N.J. The NFL football title game, held Feb. 2, will be the first Super Bowl held outdoors in a city where it snows. Super Bowl XLVIII, which will be played between the Denver Broncos and the Seattle Seahawks on Feb. 2, will be the first NFL title game held outdoors in a city where it snows. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez) A tractor plows snow off the parking lot of MetLife Stadium as crews removed snow following a snow storm, Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2014, in East Rutherford, N.J. Super Bowl XLVIII, which will be played between the Denver Broncos and the Seattle Seahawks on Feb. 2, will be the first NFL title game held outdoors in a city where it snows. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez) A tractor plows snow off the parking lot of MetLife Stadium near a tent which will serve as an access point into Super Bowl XLVIII as crews removed snow following a snow storm, Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2014, in East Rutherford, N.J. Super Bowl XLVIII, which will be played between the Denver Broncos and the Seattle Seahawks on Feb. 2, will be the first NFL title game held outdoors in a city where it snows. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez) Workers shovel snow near a tent which will be used as an access point into Super Bowl XLVIII as crews prepare MetLife Stadium during a snow storm, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2014, in East Rutherford, N.J. The NFL football title game, held Feb. 2, will be the first Super Bowl held outdoors in a city where it snows. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez) Snow falls at the Meadowlands Racetrack, adjacent to MetLife Stadium on Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2014, in East Rutherford, N.J. The NFL will host Super Bowl XLVIII at the stadium on Feb. 2, which is the first time the league will play its title game outdoors in a city where it snows. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez) Snow falls outside of MetLife Stadium during a storm, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2014, in East Rutherford, N.J. The NFL will host Super Bowl XLVIII at the stadium on Feb. 2, which is the first time the league will play its title game outdoors in a city where it snows. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez) A truck plows snow off a road near MetLife Stadium during a snow storm, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2014, in East Rutherford, N.J. The NFL will host Super Bowl XLVIII at the stadium on Feb. 2, which is the first time the league will play its title game outdoors in a city where it snows. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez) A truck plows snow off a road near MetLife Stadium during a snow storm, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2014, in East Rutherford, N.J. The NFL will host Super Bowl XLVIII at the stadium on Feb. 2, which is the first time the league will play its title game outdoors in a city where it snows. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez) Snow accumulates on the parking lot of MetLife Stadium as crews prepare the facility during a snow storm, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2014, in East Rutherford, N.J. Super Bowl XLVIII, held Feb. 2, will be the first NFL football title game held outdoors in a city where it snows. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

It’s a good thing the Super Bowl wasn’t scheduled to be played this week in New Jersey.

A huge winter storm dumped about a foot of snow at MetLife Stadium, where Super Bowl XLVIII will be played on Feb. 2.

Thousands of flights were canceled around the nation because of the storm. Imagine that happening next week as Seahawks fans are trying to get to the game.

Meteorologist Eric Fisher says the frigid temperatures that are following this storm could hang around for a while.

“We’re talking about bitter cold that should stretch for at least the next seven to 10 days,” says Fisher.

What happens if another storm hits New Jersey closer to game time? Eric Grubman is the Vice President of Business Operations for the NFL and he tells ESPN, “There’s hundreds and hundreds of trucks, there’s 50 or 60,000 tons of salt being stock-piled within 30 miles. There’s a couple hundred (tons) of this calcium chloride brine that the experts use to soften the impact on the roads even before they begin to clear it.”

Grubman says they’ve made contingency plans for just about anything the weather can throw at them, and the plan is still to kick the game off at 6:30 EST on Sunday the 2nd.

But, “If that is impossible for whatever set of reasons, whatever set of weather conditions or states of emergencies or whatever, we have contingency plans to move it earlier in the day, later in the day, earlier in the week, later in the week. So we can play the game Friday, Saturday, Sunday, just about any time. We can play the game Monday.”

Great for the NFL and great for the teams playing, but what about the fans?

Could you imagine the uproar if people who spent their next two house payments or raided their kids’ college fund to make it to this game were shut out by a scheduling change?

The NFL would never hear the end of it.

But Grubman says moving the game is a last resort. “What goes into whether deciding to do it – first of all – public safety. There’s a risk of that, and if we’re advised by the authorities that that’s the case, then we’ve got to seriously consider moving the game.”

The current weather forecast for Super Bowl Sunday is cold and windy. Highs in the mid 30’s. Lows in the upper teens. There is a 30 percent chance of snow or rain and winds of at least 20 miles an hour.

Certainly not ideal conditions for the fans.

But Grubman says every decision about this game is based on what’s best for those attending.

“What it comes down to is, can we provide the safe environment in the stadium? Can law enforcement and the transit authorities and everyone else provide the safe environment to and from the stadium?”

The NFL has meteorologists and other experts working 24 hours a day to track the weather and put together the best forecast.

If you see a storm coming for Super Bowl Sunday, prepare for the game to be moved. The NFL wants to play the game before any storm moves into the area.

MyNorthwest News

Kia Boys...

Kate Stone, KIRO Newsradio and Bill Kaczaraba, MyNorthwest

‘Kia Boys’ allegedly execute a crime spree in south King County

Renton police chased down a 14-and 16-year-old but are still looking for two other teen suspects in what they said was a "crime spree" in south King County.

34 minutes ago

Spanaway woman shot dead...

Kate Stone

Search for shooter continues after woman shot dead while driving in Spanaway

A 47-year-old woman was shot dead in Spanaway, causing her to hit another driver head-on early Wednesday morning.

2 hours ago

nintendo redmond...

Frank Sumrall

Nintendo to lay off 86 Redmond employees this spring

Nintendo of America is laying off 86 contract workers in Redmond, beginning May 25, due to company reorganization.

2 hours ago

Everett boy missing...

Frank Sumrall

4-year-old Everett boy missing, police worried he’s in danger

Police and Search and Rescue crews are looking for a missing four-year-old boy they suspect could be in danger.

4 hours ago

Image: The awnings of a store advertise the sale of lottery tickets, including Mega Millions and Po...

Steve Coogan

Lottery jackpots update: Powerball prize jumps again after $1.1B Mega Millions win

A lottery jackpots update: The Powerball prize reached an estimated $935 million ahead of Saturday night's drawing.

13 hours ago

Photo: The Judge Patricia H. Clark Children and Family Justice Center....

James Lynch

King County’s plan to close youth detention center met with fierce backlash

The King County Law and Justice Committee received a final report on Executive Dow Constantine's plan to close a youth detention center.

15 hours ago

If a big storm rolls in on Super Bowl Sunday, the game time would move