College football fans have blasted ESPN for not showing the national anthem and moment of silence at the Sugar Bowl following the terror attack in New Orleans.
New Orleans is still reeling from the devastating attack which took place on Bourbon Street early Wednesday morning, when driver Shamsud-Din Jabbar, 42, ploughed a truck into a large crowd out celebrating the New Year.
The senseless act of violence claimed the lives of 14 and left 35 injured, before Jabbar was killed by police in a resulting shootout.
After the horrific events on Bourbon Street, tributes were held before Thursday’s college football playoff quarterfinal between Georgia and Notre Dame – which was delayed 24 hours in the wake of the attack.
Yet to the dismay of fans online, neither of those poignant moments were captured on ESPN’s main channel, with the network instead showing pundits breaking down the game in the studio. The anthem and moment of silence were only shown in full on its alternative SEC Network channel, meaning most viewers did not get to see it.
‘Not showing the national anthem after a damn terrorist attack just miles away is classic @espn f’you…,’ wrote one user on X.
Fans blasted ESPN for not showing the national anthem and minute’s silence at the Sugar Bowl
Another posted: ‘Did I miss the national anthem at the sugar bowl, or did woke @espn not show it?’
‘It’s a shame they didn’t share the national anthem. It was beautiful. I guess but no one got to see it because the Disney ESPN conglomerate decided not to show it,’ read another user’s post.
One fan told the network: ‘Dear @espn, it would’ve been REALLY nice to see the moment of silence and national anthem before the #SugarBowl #CFPlayoff today.’
‘Yo @espn why the f**k are you not covering this anthem???,’ asked another.
Patrick Magee, a sports editor at the New Orleans Times-Picayune posted: ‘ESPN not showing the national anthem before the Sugar Bowl is a bit surprising.’
‘I’m highly disappointed that #ESPN did not show the National Anthem and moment of silence at the Sugar Bowl following the terror attack in #NewOrleans,’ another college football fan said. ‘You can and must do better!’
While another put: ‘@espn No national anthem on the Sugar Bowl is just beyond awful. Absolutely disgusting.’
ESPN did broadcast images of fans bowing their heads and an American flag unfurled at midfield on the main broadcast as their pundits broke down the game, while a clip of that montage was also posted on its social media accounts.
SportsCenter was also forced to step in as the pregame studio for their broadcast on Thursday due to a shift in production plans following the postponement of Wednesday’s original date.
It’s understood SportsCenter had finished an interview with former quarterback Tim Tebow and cut to a commercial before the moment of silence started. Coverage only resumed midway through the national anthem.
Social media was left seething that the poignant moments were not broadcast on TV
New Orleans mayor Latoya Cantrell was left visibly emotional during the moment of silence
Both sets of teams, coaches, staff and fans – plus emotional New Orleans mayor Latoya Cantrell – stopped for a rendition of the Star Spangled Banner as well as a moment of silence.
At the end of the national anthem, passionate chants of ‘U-S-A’ reverberated around Caesars Superdome.
A SWAT team, as well as bomb-sniffing dogs and their handlers, are out in force on Thursday around the Superdome, where hundreds more police officers lined the surrounding streets ahead of the college football blockbuster.
Police dogs were seen sniffing vehicles entering the stadium’s garage in addition to the personal belongings of anyone entering the stadium through the rigorous security checks.
Despite a lockdown Wednesday morning, the Superdome doors opened at 1pm local time, with pre-game festivities beginning at 2:15 CST. Kickoff is scheduled for 3pm in New Orleans, 4pm EST.
Bourbon Street, the site of the attack, has re-opened ahead of the game, New Orleans mayor LaToya Cantrell told reporters.
However, on Wednesday night Louisiana attorney general Liz Murrill called for a further delay to the Sugar Bowl, insisting to NBC it’s ‘premature to be having a football game when we still had bodies on the ground.’
Meanwhile, scores of Fighting Irish and Bulldogs fansalready abandoned New Orleans for their return flights home. As a result, ticket prices on the secondary market have plummeted for Thursday’s afternoon kickoff.
‘We can’t get new flights,’ said Lisa Borrelli, a 34-year-old Philadelphia resident who came to New Orleans with her fiancé, a 2011 Notre Dame graduate.
Postponing the game ‘was absolutely the right call,’ she said. ‘I completely understand.’
The Sugar Bowl went ahead at Caesars Superdome on Thursday after being delayed 24 hours due to the New Orleans terror attacks
No 2 Georgia and No 7 Notre Dame are going head to head in the college football quarterfinals
Thousands are still at the college football game despite many being forced to sell their tickets
Some seats on StubHub were as low as $11 after the tragedy as fans rushed to unload tickets
She said they paid more than $250 per ticket and hadn’t bothered listing them for resale yet 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. We’re fortunate enough that we’ll be fine.’
Some seats on StubHub were as low as $11 after Wednesday’s tragedy as scores of fans unloaded tickets on the secondary market. Even the top seats were selling for $446 on StubHub.
Earlier Wednesday, field-level seats were going for as much as $1,700 on Ticketmaster before officials opted to postpone the game in the wake of the terror attack.
The pivotal quarterfinal matchup was postponed after Jabbar, a US citizen and 13-year Army veteran from Texas, rammed his vehicle into the crowd on Bourbon Street during New Year’s festivities.
He allegedly had anISIS flag attached to his truck, while investigators also found what appeared to be improvised explosives at the crash site that did not detonate.
Authorities speaking at Thursday’s press conference in New Orleans downplayed any potential links between the Bourbon Street attack and another at Donald Trump’s hotel in Las Vegas, where 37-year-old Green Beret Matthew Livelsbergerdetonated an explosive in a rented truck, killing himself.
New Orleans Police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick told NBC that ‘hundreds of officers’ would be lining the city streets prior to the rescheduled Sugar Bowl: ‘We are staffing up at the same level, if not more so, than what we were preparing for the Super Bowl[in February].’
St John’s Parish Sheriff’s Office SWAT Unit were seen at Caesars Superdome before the game
New Orleans Police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick said ‘hundreds’ of cops would be lining the streets
Police and political leaders vowed to capture any accomplices or related crimes, with the FBI convinced Jabbar was not solely responsible.
There had been speculation that Wednesday’s terror attack at Donald Trump‘s Las Vegas hotel may be connected. Livelsberger is said to have driven a rented Tesla Cybertruck armed with a bomb to the hotel entrance, where he was killed by the blast.
Both Jabbar and Livelsberger spent time at North Carolina‘s Fort Bragg (now Fort Liberty), although it remains unclear if the two had any contact with each other prior to their respective attacks on New Year’s Day.
New Orleans police found weapons and a potential explosive device in Jabbar’s vehicle, while two potential explosive devices were found in the French Quarter and rendered safe, the FBI said.
‘We do not believe that Jabbar was solely responsible. We are aggressively running down every lead, including those of his known associates,’ FBI Assistant Special Agent in Charge Alethea Duncan told reporters, adding that investigators were looking into a ‘range of suspects.’