Alamogordo Daily News
ARLINGTON, Texas — Hard ice and heavy snow slid off Cowboys Stadium’s domed roof Friday, injuring at least six private contractors hired to prepare the venue for the Super Bowl, authorities said.
One man was struck in the head and another was hit in the shoulder, said Arlington Fire Department spokesman Pete Arevalo. They were in stable condition Friday afternoon. The other four injuries were considered minor.
Emergency personnel responded about 1 p.m. to reports of snow and ice sliding off the southern end of the sprawling stadium where the group was working, Arevalo said.
Food service worker Doug McCracken said he and a friend pulled up to the area just in time to see what looked like snow flurries blowing off the building. Wonder turned to shock when he realized someone had been hit.
“What we saw was hard ice. It shattered, it was everywhere,” McCracken said. “We thought maybe it was snow at first but it was ice. Hard ice.”
The National Weather Service had issued a winter storm warning Friday for Arlington, home of the $1.3 billion stadium where the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Green Bay Packers will play this weekend for the NFL title.
Forecasters expect a mostly sunny Super Bowl Sunday with highs in the 40s, and organizers had already said last week that the stadium’s retractable roof would be shut for the game.
All stadium entrances, except for one truck tunnel, were closed after the ice and snow fell and authorities set up a perimeter extending about 100 feet around the area. Arevalo said the area will remain secure until the ice on the stadium is gone. He said the NFL has raised the temperature inside in an attempt to melt the ice before it can come down.
“What we’re focusing now is first the stadium and the people that were injured,” NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said. “Second is the safety of the people around the stadium ... The likelihood is they’ll have to get somebody up there to get the snow off as soon as possible.”
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