Super Bowl planners brace for shutdown woes in Atlanta
A little over two weeks before Super Bowl LIII comes to town, Atlanta's mayor is sounding dire warnings about the perfect storm that awaits the world's busiest airport at a time when the Transportation Security Administration is affected by the government shutdown.
"Right now, we have about 70,000 to 80,000 people who go through Hartsfield-Jackson each and every day," Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms told MSNBC's "AM Joy" show over the weekend. "That number will swell. The day after the Super Bowl, which we refer to as 'Mass Exodus Monday,' we will have 110,000 going through the airport."
Her concerns became more tangible on Monday, when some travelers waited nearly 90 minutes in airport security lines, although Department of Homeland Security officials pushed back on reports linking the delays with the shutdown.
In a Tuesday news conference, Bottoms described the situation, with a shutdown that is the longest in U.S. history, as "uncharted territory.
"We are preparing as best we can from our vantage point," she said.
Preparations for the Feb. 3 game in Atlanta's Mercedes-Benz Stadium have been going on for years, but it wasn't pos- sible to anticipate a shutdown that would so severely affect the TSA, whose agents are working without pay. Workers have been calling in sick at double the usual rate, which has caused some airports to experience a shortage of screeners.
The Atlanta airport led the nation Monday in screening delays (the maximum standard wait time was 88 minutes) and TSA PreCheck passengers waited 55 minutes, according to CBS News.
The TSA released data last week showing that virtually all of the 1.96 million passengers who flew on Friday cleared security within 30 minutes.
The Steelers aren't ruling out the possible return of wayward wide receiver Antonio Brown. Time, however, appears to be running out.
Steelers president Art Rooney II said Wednesday the team still hasn't heard from Brown since he left Heinz Field following a victory over Cincinnati in the regular-season finale on Dec. 30. Brown did not play after failing to communicate with Pittsburgh coach Mike Tomlin in the 48 hours leading up to the game to provide an update on an apparent knee injury.
Brown didn't show up when the Steelers cleaned out their lockers on New Year's Eve after finishing 9-6-1 and has made repeated overtures on social media over the past few weeks to indicate he'd prefer to play elsewhere in 2019.
Rooney said the team has “left everything open” in terms of Brown's future, including a potential reconciliation but added “there aren't that many signs out there that that is going to happen.”
Gregg Williams was hired as the Jets' defensive coordinator, the first major staff addition by Adam Gase since he became coach.
The team also announced it has retained special teams coordinator Brant Boyer, whose unit had a standout season.
The 60-year- old Williams went 5-3 as Cleveland's interim coach this season after HueJackson was fired. At his introductory news conference Monday, the offensiveminded Gase said he was looking for a “head coach of the defense” while he focuses heavily on the other side of the ball.
“We always appreciated competing against him,” Gase told SiriusXM NFL Radio. “It was always a challenge. Always loved the way his guys played, the intensity they played with. They defended every blade of grass. I mean, they would always get after it.”