The Super Bowl returns to New Orleans next year, but the timing of the NFL’s title game creates a conflict with the city’s Mardi Gras parade schedule.
And so, instead of 12 straight days of parades and parties culminating the day before Ash Wednesday, the parades will begin early, with the pause button being pressed once the NFL descends on New Orleans for the week of activities preceding the Super Bowl, according to Jacquetta White of the New Orleans Times-Picayune.
Specifically, the Super Bowl will be played on February 3. Mardi Gras lands on February 12.
Ten years ago, the parade schedule was split when the 9/11 attacks delayed the Super Bowl by a week. That was the last time the game was played in the Superdome.
It’s unclear whether and to what extent the parade schedule will impact rumored plans to play the January 27 Pro Bowl at the Superdome.