Los Angeles officials saw the news that the NFL is exploring moving the Super Bowl away from SoFi Stadium to the Cowboys’ AT&T Stadium, or perhaps somewhere else unlikely to impose onerous COVID-19 restrictions, and they do not believe that will ultimately happen.
Speaking to reporters on Thursday, mayor Eric Garcetti envisioned the current COVID-19 spike in the region peaking in the near term, which would ostensibly mean that restrictions such as venue capacity limits would not return to the county.
“We are at a different point,” Garcetti said at the press conference. “If the evidence is the same in South Africa and UK here, we will see this surge peak, maybe as early as the end of this week or mid next week, and it should come down pretty rapidly as well.
“And as we’ve seen with hospitalizations, again, not in any way minimizing how stressful it is to be a healthcare worker. It is a radically different moment with you know, a small percentage of hospitalizations and certainly ICU hospitalizations as a result. So I think we can get through this quickly. I know the Super Bowl … everybody is talking about. I’m confident that will happen here and that we’ll be able to have great Super Bowl celebration.”
Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti is ‘confident’ the Super Bowl will not move from SoFi Stadium. Getty ImagesGarcetti’s comments echo what Kathryn Schloessman, the President of the Los Angeles Sports and Entertainment Commission, said in an email to the “Dan Patrick Show” on Thursday.
“The Super Bowl is not moving to Dallas,” she wrote. “Please make sure you know, Dan, that it’s standard operating procedure every week to have backup venues. All plans are 100 percent a go for the Super Bowl in LA”
As is the case in much of the country, new cases in Los Angeles county have been escalating for the past several weeks.
COVID-19 cases in Los Angles County have been escalating since mid-December. New York Times via GoogleOn Wednesday, WFAA in Dallas reported that the City of Arlington had “proactively” reached out to the NFL to volunteer the Cowboys’ AT&T Stadium as a contingency site for the Super Bowl, which is scheduled for Feb. 13.
The NFL confirmed the news in a statement, but said it was “standard operating procedure” for such contingencies to be explored.
Throughout the pandemic, Texas has had much less significant COVID-19 restrictions pertaining to things like masks, indoor dining, vaccine mandates and venue capacity limits than California has had.
