Authorities postponed Wednesday night’s Sugar Bowl, a major sporting event in New Orleans, after a man plowed his pickup truck into a crowd of New Year’s revelers in what is being investigated as a terrorist attack.
The annual sold-out 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 injured around 3:15 a.m. Wednesday when a man intentionally drove into a crowd on Bourbon Street, a popular destination in the city.
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The suspect is dead, the FBI said. He identified him as Shamsud-Din Jabbar, 42, a U.S. citizen from Texas.
Notre Dame and the University of Georgia would meet in the Sugar Bowl, which has been played annually since 1935, around 7:45 p.m. local time, and would have been broadcast on ESPN.
The teams will take the field at 3 pm local time on Thursday (4 pm ET). Officials said there will be additional security 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 at the local, state and federal levels and will communicate more details as they become available,” he said.
The University of Georgia Athletic Association said all team personnel and members of the team’s official travel party have been accounted for. “We are deeply saddened by the senseless violence that occurred in New Orleans,” he said in a statement.
