Officials have postponed Wednesday night’s Sugar Bowl, a major sporting event in New Orleans, after a man plowed his truck into a crowd of New Year’s revelers in what is being investigated as a terrorist attack.
The sold-out annual college football game will be postponed until Thursday night, Allstate Sugar Bowl CEO Jeff Hundley said at a news conference.
Hundley said the decision was in the “best interest” of public safety.
Authorities said at least 15 people were killed and more than 30 others were injured about 3:15 a.m. Wednesday when a man intentionally rammed into a crowd on Bourbon Street, a popular destination in the city.
The suspect is dead, the FBI said. It identified him as Shamsud-Din Jabbar, 42, a U.S. citizen from Texas.
Notre Dame and the University of Georgia were set to face off in the the Sugar Bowl, played annually since 1935, around 7:45 p.m., local time and would have aired on ESPN.
The teams will take the field at 3 p.m. local time Thursday (4 p.m. ET). Officials said there will be additional safety measures.
In an earlier statement, Hundley said the Sugar Bowl Committee was “devastated by the terrible events.”
“Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families,” the statement said. “We are in ongoing discussions with authorities on the local, state, and federal levels and will communicate further details as they become available,” he said.
The University of Georgia Athletic Association said all team personnel and members of the official team travel party have been accounted for. “We are deeply saddened by the senseless violence that occurred in New Orleans,” it said in a statement.
Notre Dame’s head coach, Marcus Freeman, said on ESPN Wednesday night that the team had heard that morning that some tragedy had occurred but didn’t immediately have all the details.
Later, as the details of the deadly attack became clearer, the game was postponed. Freeman said on the network that “We’re hurting for all those affected by this tragedy” and that New Orleans had “welcomed us with open arms.”
“What I told the team is: You know, in the toughest moments, the culture of any program — of a nation — is revealed,” Freeman said. “And I have a lot of faith this country will rally around New Orleans and support all the victims and families that were affected today.”
