Super Bowl could be rescheduled for big storm

If the Seahawks make the Super Bowl, as predicted, plenty of fans will be making plans to attend the game in New York. But the NFL says the game could be played earlier or later than scheduled if a massive snow paralyzes the region.

Super Bowl XLVIII will be the first played outdoors in a cold climate. Officials say a little snow would actually be welcome.

“I think watching NFL football in the snow is really romantic,” NFL senior vice president of events Frank Supovitz said Wednesday. “It’s great, it’s exciting, and if you’ve ever done it, you know that. It’s also a rite of passage for you as a fan to have done it at least once. And this is a Super Bowl, right? So I think it’s going to be amazing. I think it would be better if it snowed a little bit during the game. I think it’ll just make it more memorable.”

But what happens if a major storm blankets the area, making travel difficult or impossible? Supovitz says the league has made contingency plans. The game could be moved up to Saturday, played the following Monday or Tuesday, or even the following weekend.

That would be a major and potentially costly inconvenience, especially for fans traveling to the game. But officials flanked by a huge pile of plowed snow outside MetLife Stadium Wednesday sounded a confident note having to move the game day would be highly unlikely.

A heavy snow that fell last weekend before the Seahawks and Giants game had no impact. Crews used a special machine that can melt 600 tons of snow an hour at the stadium. There was little sign of snow inside when the Seahawks and Giants kicked off Sunday.

And transportation officials said they would have over 800 trucks and plows and 60,000 tons of salt within a 30-mile radius to handle a heavy snow.

“We keep the markets open every day and the schools open most days, and we’ll do a good job Super Bowl week, as well,” New York/New Jersey Super Bowl host committee CEO Al Kelly said at the news conference.