Tag Archives: BourbonStreet

As the Super Bowl nears, New Orleans grapples with how safe is safe enough

Louisiana State Police assemble outside the Superdome, Feb. 3, 2025, in advance of the upcoming Super Bowl to be played, Feb. 9th, in New Orleans.  Gerald Herbert/AP

NEW ORLEANS — The anticipation surrounding Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans is not just about which team will win, it’s whether or not the city can pull the game off without a serious security breach. New Orleans has hosted 10 Super Bowls in previous years, but Sunday’s game at the Superdome is different. Just over a month before Sunday’s kick-off, the city was the target of a terrorist attack on New Year’s Day in which a driver racing down Bourbon Street killed 14 people, injured 57 others, and heightened fears among locals that the city is unprepared for the estimated 100,000 visitors expected to arrive this week. “New Orleans never had a reputation as a high target type place” for terrorism, “it was always ‘the Big Easy,'” said Eric