The NFL and media final has reason to complain about the weather in Dallas for Super Bowl XLV. Huge sheets of ice falling from the roof of Cowboys Stadium injured seven people, one critically, this afternoon in a continuation of a hellish week of weather in Texas. From the Mexican border north, Texans are dealing with weather few have seen in their lifetime. Border towns saw snow this morning for just the second time in a century. In other words, this type of weather just doesn't happen.
For the Pittsburgh Steelers and Green Bay Packers, the weather must make them feel right at home.
NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said many of the stadium entrances have been closed today due to safety concerns.
"The ice and snow melting off the Cowboys Stadium roof has caused several sliding snowfalls onto the plaza," McCarthy explained.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell spoke about the weather today during his annual Super Bowl press conference. He felt pleased with how Dallas has handled the snow and said Super Bowl cities in the future - like Indianapolis and New York - will be prepared for anything.
NFL vice president of events, Frank Supovits, said the league was prepared for the deepfreeze.
"Wherever you go, you always want to have a contingency plan. In South Florida, we have a contingency plan for flooding. In Detroit, we had a contingency plan for snow. In Indianapolis next year, we'll have a similar plan like that for deep cold and snow," he said. "Here, we had a contingency plan for frozen precipitation because ice is the thing that you have to be most concerned about."