Super Bowl XLV: Winter Weather Causing Travel Problems For Fans

Added on Feb 03, 2011 by Jack Thurman in

Super Bowl

The NFL goes out of their way to make sure that the Super Bowl isn’t played in nasty winter weather–to even be considered to host the big game a city has to have decent weather conditions or a domed stadium. Dallas usually has both and just to make sure weather doesn’t play a part in the outcome of the game the retractable roof at Cowboys Stadium will be closed on Sunday. Despite all of their power, however, the NFL can’t control the weather nationwide and the big winter storm in the Midwest has wreaked havoc on the travel plans of Packers and Steelers fans.

But it’s not just the bad weather in the Midwest–Texas was hit by a sizable ice storm earlier this week. According to flight tracking service FlightAware at least 1,250 flights to Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport have been canceled this week. That’s second only to Chicago’s O’Hare Airport, where ‘The Windy City’ has been impacted by one of the most severe blizzards in recent memory. The storm in Texas was followed by unseasonably cold weather with high temperatures in the mid-teens.

The good news is that the worst weather appears to be behind us. On Thursday, DFW Airport was operating at near normal capacity despite continued cold weather with temperatures in the low 20s. American Airlines –the largest carrier at DFW– expects to fly more than 90 percent of their flights. According to American spokesman Tim Smith, it could have been much worse:

“If we were going to have an ice storm in Dallas for the Super Bowl, Tuesday and Wednesday is certainly better than Friday, Saturday and Sunday.”

Some airlines are planning to add additional flights into the Dallas metro area to accommodate Super Bowl travelers, though NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said that the league hadn’t approached the carriers asking for additional flights:

“We did not make any specific requests. They recognize the importance of the Super Bowl.”

Some fans weren’t going to take any chances with the weather. Philip Nelson, an executive at NewTek, was originally scheduled to fly into Dallas on Wednesday for business meetings and stay through the weekend for the Super Bowl. When his flight was cancelled, he took matters into his own hands and made the drive from his home in San Antonio despite treacherously icy roads:

“I followed the truckers — I figured they would know which lane to be in. There wasn’t much traffic but there were a lot of cars stuck along the side of the road.”

Obviously the NFL can’t predict the weather conditions several years out but there’s certainly a chance of winter weather at the next few Super Bowl sites. Following Sunday’s game in Dallas the Super Bowl will move to the domed Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis in 2012 and outdoors in New Jersey’s New Meadowlands Stadium in 2014.

While the game will be played indoors, Sunday’s weather forecast for Dallas looks pretty good calling for partly cloudy skies and a high temperature of 50 F. For fans more looking to bet on Super Bowl action, a better option could be a trip to Las Vegas where Sunday temperatures are expected to rise into the mid 60′s under mostly sunny skies.