Jan. 23 (UPI) -- As East Coasters grappled with the second polar vortex this month -- plummeting temperatures and blankets of snow -- NFL officials took the opportunity to practice their Super Bowl contingency plan.
Eric Grubman, the NFL's vice president of business operations, spoke to reporters at MetLife stadium on Wednesday, where stadium workers cleared recent snowfall from the bleachers with chutes and snow melters.
“What goes into whether deciding to (move) it, first of all, is public safety,” Grubman said. "Unless it was a state of emergency which affected public resources in a way that made it impossible to get the resources here, or any kind of declaration by any of the authorities from the states involved that made it difficult to travel safety to and from the stadium, we would absolutely respect that.”
Officials said that if meteorologists predicted snow for Super Bowl Sunday, the big game could take place Friday, Saturday or Monday.
"Our aim is to play it at 6:30 p.m. [Sunday] and we are going to have every possible resources in place to do that along as conditions are safe," he added. "But if not, we have contingent plans with a lot of options available to us."
Though it's still too early to have a firm handle on the Super Bowl Sunday forecast, Weather.com says that there is a "potential" for cold fronts to bring snow to the area later next week.
[Asbury Park Press, The Record, New York Post]
