Icy weather didn’t stop the Super Bowl from happening at AT&T Stadium and it won’t delay the Cotton Bowl
The Dallas school district announced plans to cancel classes and close all schools on Thursday and Friday. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is sitting in meetings about emergency weather plans as a severe storm targets the Lone Star state. Still, the Cotton Bowl is a go for Friday, according to bowl officials. Dallas, Tarrant, Collin and […]
The Dallas school district announced plans to cancel classes and close all schools on Thursday and Friday. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is sitting in meetings about emergency weather plans as a severe storm targets the Lone Star state.
Still, the Cotton Bowl is a go for Friday, according to bowl officials.
Dallas, Tarrant, Collin and Denton Counties are all under a winter storm warning as forecasts call for a mix of rain and possibly four inches of snow that could begin around 6 a.m. Thursday.
The Dallas-Fort Worth area doesn’t do well with snow and ice. Heck, Texans have a hard time in the rain, too. But if bad weather didn’t stop the Super Bowl more than a decade ago, it won’t stop the Cotton Bowl, either.
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The Cotton Bowl put out a statement late Tuesday saying the game would be played as scheduled Friday at AT&T Stadium. Texas and Ohio State were scheduled to arrive at their respective hotels on Wednesday afternoon and participate in media activities.
“We continue to monitor weather reports, and over the last 24 hours, the forecast for later this week has improved according to the National Weather Service,” the Cotton Bowl said in a statement. “We have been meeting routinely with city officials, the Director of Transportation for North Texas and the College Football Playoff. Should the forecast shift, we are prepared for all contingencies.
“North Texas highways are already being brined and plans are in place to assure a safe environment for everyone in and around AT&T Stadium on game day. The teams arrive tomorrow, as planned, and the 2025 CFP Semifinal at the 89th Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic will kick off on Friday evening as scheduled.”
The NFL refused to cancel the Super Bowl during an ice storm in Arlington in 2011.
Seven people were injured when a sheet of ice fell off the AT&T Stadium roof prior to Super Bowl XLV. “I looked up and there were these huge, bowling-ball sized chunks of ice falling,” Win McNamee told the New York Times in 2011. He went to the hospital with a shoulder broken in four places.
The league told reporters at the time that none of the injuries were life threatening. The game between the Green Bay Packers and Pittsburgh Steelers went off without a hitch.
It’s unclear how fans will be affected in traveling to the game Friday. But the two teams will be helicoptered in if that’s what it takes. The game is a go.
