Postponed Sugar Bowl played with enhanced security about 36 hours after terror attack in New Orleans

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Georgia and Notre Dame fans packed a plaza adjacent to the Superdome and enjoyed music under clear skies — under the watch of snipers on rooftops — before filtering into the stadium for Thursday's College Football Playoff quarterfinal at the Sugar Bowl.

“It was a lot of fun. It felt safe,” said Shannon Horsey, a Georgia fan in her 40s who lives in Austin, Texas. “Coming in they searched my bag thoroughly. So I felt like, OK, they're really paying attention.”

Horsey was in New Orleans with her husband, Joe, a 48-year-old Georgia graduate, and their teenage children, Jack and Zoe.

They extended their stay after the game, originally scheduled for Wednesday night, was postponed because of an attack by a man who drove a pickup truck into crowds in the French Quarter, killing 14 New Year’s revelers before police killed the attacker in a shootout. Dozens more were injured.

Notre Dame beat Georgia 23-10 in a game that concluded without incident amid the enhanced security.

“We can see the presence up on the rooftop," Horsey said, pointing at a sniper above Champions Square. "So, I kind of felt like this is probably one of the safest places to be in the city.”

Joe Horsey said the pregame crowd was larger than he expected but he also found the “energy lower than a normal football game.”

“You could sense the musicians trying to get people riled up. People are kind of going through the paces, a little bit in shock, but trying to make the best out of the day,” he said.

It also seemed to Horsey that opposing fans were being a little more polite to one another than at a typical game.

“SEC football can get nasty on game day and can get a little raucous," he said. "But there's a little different sense of civility and that there's bigger things than football.”

Flags were at half-staff outside nearby government buildings in memory of those killed in the attack, which has been labeled by authorities as an act of terrorism.

“Obviously the events that occurred were very challenging, and I just want everybody to know that the Notre Dame family, every single person in our locker room is praying for those families,” Notre Dame quarterback Riley Leonard said. “I also want to thank the New Orleans police department for responding the way they did and creating a safe environment for us to play today, so quickly after the events.”

The attack occurred on Bourbon Street, which runs through the heart of the French Quarter and is famously lined with bars, restaurants and clubs, near the corner of Canal Street, a main downtown artery.

The crime scene, which was gradually cleared so it could be reopened to the public on Thursday, is about a mile’s walk from the Superdome.

Security was ramped up in and around the stadium.

Police blocked regular traffic from passing by the main Superdome entrance on Poydras Street, an eight-lane downtown artery.

A helicopter circled overhead.

Security officers around the 70,000-seat stadium were handling dogs trained to sniff for explosive devices. They encircled cars entering the dome's parking garage and in some cases sniffed bags and backpacks.

The game, originally scheduled for 7:45 p.m. CST on Wednesday, was pushed back to 3 p.m. Thursday, about 36 hours after the attack. It was the first time the Sugar Bowl had been postponed in its 91-year history, although it was relocated at the end of the 2005 season because of Hurricane Katrina.

The Superdome also is scheduled to host the Super Bowl on Feb. 9.

Notre Dame advanced to the Orange Bowl next Thursday against Fiesta Bowl winner Penn State.

Mark Oldani, a 58-year-old Nashville resident and 1988 graduate of Notre Dame, took a group photo for a gathering of Georgia fans in front of the venue.

The crowd was “friendly, nobody yelling back and forth at each other,” he said. “I think everybody's coming in hoping for a good game and wanting to make the most of a really difficult situation.”

Before the singing of the national anthem, a moment of silence, lasting close to half a minute, was held.

While many fans extended their stay to attend the game, the postponement meant some were able to attend because of travel plans that were deemed too expensive or logistically difficult to change.

Numerous tickets were listed for resale online at prices as low as $23.

Postponing the game “was absolutely the right call,” said Lisa Borrelli, a 34-year-old Philadelphia resident who came to New Orleans with her fiance, a 2011 Notre Dame graduate, but could not stay for the game.

She said they paid more than $250 per ticket and weren't sure if they'd bother listing them for resale because prices were so low.

“Of course we’re disappointed to miss it and to lose so much money on it, but at the end of the day it doesn’t matter,” Borrelli said. “We’re fortunate enough that we’ll be fine.”

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Street view of Superdome ahead of the Sugar Bowl NCAA College Football Playoff game, Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Butch Dill)

A state trooper stands by New Orleans' Canal and Bourbon streets, Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

FBI personnel arrive at the Caesars Superdome ahead of the Sugar Bowl NCAA College Football Playoff game, Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Butch Dill)

Cory Hunter flips a coin on Bourbon Street, Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025 in New Orleans. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

Law enforcement gather in front of the Sonesta Hotel on Bourbon Street, Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025 in New Orleans. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

Tourist walk past temporary barriers on Bourbon Street, Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025 in New Orleans. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

Local SWAT teams patrol outside the Caesars Superdome ahead of the Sugar Bowl NCAA College Football Playoff game, Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Butch Dill)

Fans pass through security check points as they enter the Superdome fan zone ahead of the Sugar Bowl NCAA College Football Playoff game, Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Butch Dill)

Fans pass through security check points as they enter the Caesars Superdome fan zone ahead of the Sugar Bowl NCAA College Football Playoff game, Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Butch Dill)

Fans pass through security check points as they enter the Superdome fan zone ahead of the Sugar Bowl NCAA College Football Playoff game, Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Butch Dill)

Security with bomb sniffing dogs check vehicles as they enter the Superdome ahead of the Sugar Bowl NCAA College Football Playoff game, Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Butch Dill)

Local SWAT teams patrol outside the Caesars Superdome ahead of the Sugar Bowl NCAA College Football Playoff game, Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Butch Dill)

An aerial overall exterior general view of Caesars Superdome, Sunday, Dec. 15, 2024, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Tyler Kaufman)

Security and bomb sniffing dogs check backpacks before entering the Superdome ahead of the Sugar Bowl NCAA College Football Playoff game, Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Butch Dill)

Security and bomb sniffing dogs check vehicles as they enter the Superdome parking garage ahead of the Sugar Bowl NCAA College Football Playoff game, Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Butch Dill)

Security with bomb sniffing dogs patrol the area around the Superdome ahead of the Sugar Bowl NCAA College Football Playoff game, Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Butch Dill)

Security and bomb sniffing dogs check vehicles as they enter the Superdome parking garage ahead of the Sugar Bowl NCAA College Football Playoff game, Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Butch Dill)

MIAMI (AP) — For the 119th time since Jimmy Butler joined Miami, the Heat were playing a game without him.

This was different from the others.

Butler is gone, banished by the Heat for seven games over what they called conduct detrimental to the team — and he's probably not going to play for Miami again. His suspension started Saturday night when the Heat played the Utah Jazz, and the team says it will agree to his wishes and try to facilitate a trade.

“It’s disappointing when you see the organization and a player going head-to-head like that,” Heat captain Bam Adebayo said Saturday after the team's shootaround practice. “But the rest of us got to figure out how to win games.”

Butler has not commented publicly on the suspension. The National Basketball Players Association spoke out on Butler's behalf hours after the Heat announced the suspension on Friday, saying it believes the team's actions are “excessive and inappropriate.” The suspension could cost Butler about $2.4 million of his $48.8 million salary this season.

“It's none of our business,” Adebayo said. “It’s for Jimmy and for the management to handle.”

How it gets handled from here, and on what timeframe, is anyone's guess.

There was a new starting lineup with Butler gone: Miami opened the game with Terry Rozier, Tyler Herro, Haywood Highsmith, Nikola Jovic and Adebayo. Butler's locker is still the way he left it, shower shoes leaning against the drawer under the seat, a few items hanging on hooks and a few things taped to the wall. It will be cleaned out at some point, but he's still part of the team.

For now, anyway.

“We’re just going to focus on tonight," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said before the game. "I want to quiet all the distractions. Enough has been said. We have clarity. We’re just going to focus on this group in the locker room. That’s what I want them to focus on and quiet the noise as much as possible. I’m not a clickbait type of coach, so you’re not going to get anything else really from me. We have a task to do.”

Utah will see Miami twice during Butler's suspension; the Heat play in Salt Lake City on Thursday. Jazz coach Will Hardy knows being without Butler won't change Spoelstra's approach.

“They have a consistency in their program from a competitive standpoint that you know that it doesn’t matter who plays," Hardy said. “You come here, you play Miami in your building, it’s going to be 48 minutes of highly competitive, physical basketball. Spo has shown that the entire time he’s been in Miami.”

Trading Butler will be a challenge in these NBA times, with the rules of the collective bargaining agreement limiting the ways teams can acquire players. It's possible, but it's far from certain. And the Heat simply letting Butler leave as a free agent this summer also remains a possibility — a move that would open up some other avenues for Miami to acquire new players before next season.

“It sucks to see that he won’t be around,” Rozier said.

Butler averaged 21.7 points, 6.2 rebounds and 5.7 assists in 380 games with the Heat, including playoffs. Entering Saturday, since Butler joined the Heat, they won 59.7% of their games when he played (227-153); they won 49.2% of their games when he didn’t (58-60).

He became eligible last summer for a two-year, $113 million extension. The deal was never offered by the Heat, in part because Butler has missed about one-quarter of the team's games during his Miami tenure.

It was only natural that such a big sum of money not being offered was going to lead to problems. And the tension boiled over this week. Butler didn't play in the fourth quarters of Miami games on Wednesday and Thursday; he spent some offensive possessions simply standing in the corner, almost as if he had no role.

“I feel like he came to work, he tried to perform, and it just didn’t go his way,” Adebayo said. “I feel like he didn’t want to be in the corner. But like I said, we developed a system where we play around everybody, and we just had to figure out how to incorporate him. But after what happened yesterday, we’re focused on who’s with us now.”

After the second of those games earlier in the week, Butler said “probably not” when asked if he thought he could find on-court joy again in Miami.

Saying those two words may have been his last official act as a member of the Heat. A week or so ago, Miami had no interest in trading Butler. Hearing him say that he doesn't want to be on the team anymore evidently changed things.

“It's hard to not see him around,” Jovic said.

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Miami Heat forward Jimmy Butler (22) and center Bam Adebayo, left, are introduced before an NBA basketball game against the Indiana Pacers Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025, in Miami. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)