At least ten people are dead and over 30 injured after an assailant plowed into a crowd of revelers celebrating New Year’s festivities in New Orleans’ popular French Quarter neighborhood.
While the New Orleans mayor described the incident as a “terrorist attack” and the city’s police superintendent said the driver was “hellbent” on killing “as may people as he possibly could,” federal law enforcement is still looking into the motives of the suspect, who is now deceased.
Besides ringing in the new year, tens of thousands of University of Georgia and Notre Dame fans descended upon New Orleans to attend the Allstate Sugar Bowl, one of this year’s College Football Playoff games. A parade was held in the French Quarter at 2 p.m. local time that featured marching bands, floats and dance groups winding through the French Quarter.
The parade helped kick off the city’s New Year’s festivities as well as the big matchup at the Ceasers Superdome, which was scheduled to kick off on Wednesday evening.
However, with the FBI investigating the incident and the public being told to stay away from Bourbon Street as it’s now become a grisly crime scene, will the game still go off as planned?
What is the status of the game?
As of now, the game is still scheduled to be played on Wednesday night, with kickoff set for 7:45 p.m. local time at the Caesars Superdome.
Jeff Hundley, the CEO of the Sugar Bowl, said on Wendesday morning that the game’s committee was still talking to local and federal officials about the status of the highly anticipated contest.
“The Sugar Bowl Committee is devastated by the terrible events from early this morning,” Hundley said in a statement. “Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families. We are in ongoing discussions with authorities on the local, state, and federal levels and will communicate further details as they become available.”
What have officials said?
Police Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick said in a press conference on Wednesday morning that she wanted the city and its visitors to “continue enjoying” New Orleans despite the horrific attack.
“We are going to make sure our routes and our Superdome are safe today for the game, and yet we had this tragic event and we’re sorry to everyone, but we do want you to go about the day, just stay away from Bourbon Street,” she said.
What time is set for?
The stadium will open its doors to fans at 5:30 p.m. local time, and the game is scheduled to start at 8:45 p.m. ET.
Who is playing?
The 91st Annual Sugar Bowl will feature SEC champion and No. 2 Georgia Bulldogs and No. 7 Notre Dame Fighting Irish.
This game is a quarterfinal matchup in the College Football Playoff, which is in its first year of an expanded 12-team format. Notre Dame beat the Indiana Hoosiers in the first round to face the Bulldogs, who received a bye.
The winner of this game will move on to the semifinal round next week to face No. 6 Penn State at the Orange Bowl in Miami Lakes, Florida.