Super Bowl 45: Falling Ice At Cowboys Stadium Causes Injuries

Added on Feb 05, 2011 by Jack Thurman in

NFL

This isn’t exactly what the NFL had in mind when they awarded the Super Bowl to Dallas–a week of unseasonably cold weather combined with ice and snow storms have hit North Texas causing all sort of logistical problems. On Friday, it became even more serious when ice falling from the roof of Cowboys Stadium injured six people, one seriously. The accident prompted authorities to close off every entry into the stadium except the truck tunnel, and this isn’t a good sign less than 48 hours before kickoff. The hope is that sunny skies and slightly warmer weather on Saturday will facilitate melting, but a rainy Sunday could cause any remaining ice to come off *too* quickly which could present another problem.

The problem is caused by the design of the stadium along with the reality that the building wasn’t expected to deal with ice and snow. As the temperatures warmed on Friday, huge sheets of ice and snow were sliding off the dome and crashing to the ground 200 feet below. The injuries occurred in early afternoon, with one of the injuries suffered by photographer Win McNamee who was shooting exterior photos of the stadium when a chunk of ice hit him in the shoulder, breaking it in four places. None of the injuries were life threatening, though two were taken to area hospitals where they are listed in stable condition. Initial reports suggested that one was in critical condition but later information backed off this assessment of severity.

NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy released this terse statement:

“The ice and snow melting off of the Cowboys Stadium roof has caused several sliding snow falls onto the plazas. All stadium entrances have been closed except for the truck tunnel, which is away from the building by a very safe distance. All workers and visitors will now enter and exit through the tunnel until further notice.”

This also brings up another potential problem–the ‘plaza’ the ice is falling on is where Cowboys’ Stadium hopes to sell $200 standing room tickets to push Super Bowl attendance over the all time record. So far there’s been no comment on the possibility of having to limit the standing area but Fire Department spokesman Pedro Arevalo sounded confident that anything can be dealt with:

“All this stuff just keeps getting thrown at us, but we’ve been prepared and we’re ready for these types of situations other than the ice, that’s one thing we didn’t take into consideration.”

As of yet, there’s been no mention of steps to expedite the ice removal by man made means. So for now, the hope is that the warmer weather and sunshine on Saturday will clear the roof of Cowboys’ Stadium in time for the festivities on Sunday.