Preparations are already underway for Super Bowl Lix which pits the Kansas City Chiefs against the Philadelphia Eagles. The game will take place in New Orleans on February 9.
One of the most important parts of the game is public safety, as police and law enforcement officials always do what is necessary to make the event is a safe one.
Regardless of who comes out on top on February 9, New Orleans police spokesperson Barry Fletcher has made it clear that fans will have to keep in line if they choose to celebrate in the streets.
While responding to a Philadelphia newspaper, Fletcher warned against fans climbing the street poles in the French Quarter after the game. While Eagles fans weren’t mentioned by name, it’s clear that’s who Fletcher was referring to given Philadelphia fans are known for climbing what they can after big wins.
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“Regarding climbing street light poles, that is not only illegal [trespassing] but is unsafe as many of the street light poles in the French Quarter are quite old,” Fletcher said in an email to the Philadelphia Inquirer.
“Climbing on them risks toppling the light pole.”
Along with risking injury should they climb poles, fans could be forced to pay damages and even face criminal charges as well.
A hotel in the French Quarter is famous for greasing a nearby pole on Bourbon Street, but time will tell if the rest of the light poles in the city will be coated in some sort of lubricant to deter climbers on the day of the game.
The warning comes after an 18-year-old in Philadelphia fell from a street pole after the Eagles took down the Washington Commanders in the NFC Championship game on Sunday. They are currently on life support.
Not the first time fans have been warned
The Eagles and Chiefs met in Super Bowl LVII back in 2022 in Glendale, Arizona, and both sets of fans received similar warnings then as well.
“You will be a fried Eagle,” the Valley Metro transit system warned riders considering climbing the electrified station poles.
Close to 100,000 visitors are expected to descend on New Orleans for this year’s Super Bowl. It comes a month after the terror attack that took place in the French Quarter in the early hours of New Year’s Day.
Shamsud-Din Jabbar killed 13 people driving a rented pickup into crowds of pedestrians. The 42-year-old was then fatally shot by the police in a subsequent standoff.
