Super Bowl LIX is set for this upcoming February in New Orleans. However, it’s not the first major football game of note to take place in New Orleans this football season.
The Sugar Bowl was scheduled to take place on January 1 but was postponed a day after 14 people were killed in a terrorist attack on Bourbon Street in the early hours of the morning when a man drove a truck through the crowds.
“We’ve increased our security posture significantly so that people can come here, they can see a strong law enforcement presence,” said Eric DeLaune, Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations in New Orleans overseeing federal coordination for the Super Bowl, per ESPN.
“My goal was that you couldn’t walk a city block in downtown New Orleans without at least encountering one law enforcement official,” DeLaune continued. “I’m not trying to make people afraid. I want people to see that we’re prepared.”
“I’d like to say it doesn’t change a lot in our security planning, but it does change things,” the NFL’s Chief Security Officer Cathy Lanier said to the outlet. “Are we doing anything differently? Of course.
“You’ll see plenty of uniformed people but there are going to be lots of plainclothes people in the crowds too.”
He also addressed increased barrier protection.
“Barriers may not have been working. There may have been some other issues that played into the impact of this event on Jan. 1, but I can tell you the response is genuine. The response is because they want the city to be safer, they want Bourbon Street to be safer, and they don’t want to see an attack like this happen again.
“I can see where somebody might have said there could have been more done, but I can tell you now that the stuff being done is not because of a Super Bowl. It’s not because of Mardi Gras,” he said. “It’s because they genuinely are concerned about the safety and security of the citizens they serve, and they’re trying to make things better.”
Hopefully, the changes succeed in keeping everyone safe.
