After Winter Storm Nemo swept through the Northeast two weekends ago, “panic seems to have set in around the region about what would happen if it becomes a winter wonderland like that” during next year's Super Bowl XLVIII, according to Gary Myers of the N.Y. DAILY NEWS. NFL Senior VP/Events Frank Supovitz said, “Our objective is to kick off the football on game day and it’s our intention to do that.” Supovitz added, “There have been cases in which games, regular season games, could not be played because of extreme weather conditions. It’s a matter of public safety that extends to a Super Bowl.” Supovitz said that “if the same snow that fell beginning last Friday night happened on the Friday night of Super Bowl weekend next year, ‘We would be planning to move ahead on game day if that exact snowfall happened at exactly the same time.’” Supovitz said of possible snow on Super Bowl Sunday morning, “Like any NFL game in any stadium and NFL city, we will determine the public safety risk.” Myers also noted Supovitz “put an end to the nonsense that there won’t be a live halftime show.” Supovitz: “There absolutely will be a halftime show in the stadium. We’ve been working on it since last summer” (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 2/17). On Long Island, Bob Glauber noted former NFL exec Jim Steeg “believes the game will be played with minimal complications.” Steeg said, "In New York and New Jersey, the one thing you've got is the ability to clear everything in the event of a storm. After (last week's) storm, it took a day and everything was back to normal." Steeg added, "You've got all the equipment there, all the resources to bring to bear, and a lot of mass transportation. I don't think there will be a problem" (NEWSDAY, 2/17).
