Pittsburgh Steelers will play New York Giants (almost) as planned

The New York Giants will host the Pittsburgh Steelers at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., as scheduled Sunday at 4:25 p.m. EST.

NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie assured the league that the game would not cause any resources to be diverted away from relief efforts in the aftermath of super storm Sandy.

Aiello said Christie was pleased that the game will be played.

New York and New Jersey were hit hard by the storm. The final decision on whether to play the game was not made until NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell spoke with Christie about possible transportation issues that could arise.

The Steelers better hope there are no transportation issues, because there is little wiggle room in their game-day schedule. There is no power in the hotel they had booked for Saturday night and no other nearby facilities had enough vacant rooms available.

So instead of leaving mid-afternoon on the day before the game, as is their custom, the Steelers are leaving mid-morning Sunday for an hourlong flight to Newark, N.J.

“I don’t think I have traveled and played a game on the same day since high school,” Steelers linebacker James Harrison tweeted.

After landing, the Steelers will eat a quick team meal before taking buses straight to the game (hopefully the buses will have fueled up beforehand). The team will return to Pittsburgh that night.

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The Associated Press contributed to this report.