Audible With a Sweet Result

In the terrible days after Hurricane Katrina, the Louisiana Superdome, home of the Sugar Bowl game since 1975, became a putrid symbol of national disgrace.

When a few Sugar Bowl staffers were allowed inside after the evacuation of the cavernous building that was meant to be a refuge for storm victims, they found their offices looted and a stadium that could not possibly be fit for a game in January.

“I remember the stink,” said Sugar Bowl Executive Director Paul Hoolahan, who had to don a hazmat suit to enter his office. “It had to be 102 degrees. There was no [air conditioning]. We had all been through so much, to walk back into our workspace and find it all ransacked was a little overwhelming.

“The valuable things like jewelry, watches, rings, anything they thought they could pawn, all the food and drink, were gone. The first thing was basic survival issues, then rummaging through drawers and file cabinets to take all the files and throw them on the floor. It was just kind of pure aggression.”

Slowly, he began to see what was left: footballs autographed by Bear Bryant, national championship memorabilia, photos of historical value, such as Herschel Walker leading Georgia to the 1980 national title while playing with a separated shoulder.

And finally, astoundingly, the ornate silver Sugar Bowl trophy that has been awarded since 1935.

“The Sugar Bowl cup, the original cup, believe it or not, was still there,” Hoolahan said. “We quickly left with that.”

They have taken it with them to Atlanta, where Georgia and West Virginia will meet Monday at the Georgia Dome in the first Sugar Bowl played outside New Orleans.

Efforts to keep the game in Louisiana by staging it in Baton Rouge failed because of concerns about hotel availability, with New Orleans only beginning to recover and Baton Rouge housing many who fled storm damage.

“I did have concerns about the issue of giving an opportunity to keep the game in-state, play it in Baton Rouge,” Hoolahan said. “The people of the state deserved that. To some extent, there was a feeling teams were defecting, the Saints and the Hornets, and we didn’t want to be viewed in the same light, though we’re painfully aware why they did what they did.”

Atlanta became the alternative. Hoolahan, whose family’s home suffered significant damage in the New Orleans suburb of Metairie and who lost a vacation home in Bay St. Louis, Miss., moved to Atlanta without his wife and daughters in October. His staff moved too, many leaving family in New Orleans or far-flung refuges.

Once in Atlanta, the workers lived in a downtown hotel across the street from rented office space as they accomplished a three-month miracle, preparing to put on a game in a city they barely knew.

“I never felt the future of the game was at stake, in the short term or the long term,” Hoolahan said.

Nevertheless, it has been a mad dash.

“Pre-Katrina, we had pretty much assembled our puzzle and pretty much knew the drill, what to expect at what time of year,” Hoolahan said. “Post-Katrina, that puzzle went off the table and had to be reassembled in a new city where we didn’t have connections.

“We’ve been the recipients of lots of good will from the Atlanta chamber of commerce and the visitors’ and convention bureau, the mayor’s office.”

The game program, already in the works, had to be redone, and now features a New Orleans-style scene overlooked by Atlanta’s landmark round Peachtree Plaza hotel.

The Georgia Dome, already booked for the Peach Bowl on Friday and an NFL game between the Atlanta Falcons and Carolina Panthers on Sunday, will be the site of the vagabond Sugar Bowl on Monday for its third major event in four days.

It helps that Atlanta has had an Olympics.

It also helps that the city’s police chief, Richard J. Pennington, is New Orleans’ former chief.

“That was an easy process,” Hoolahan said. “We could say, ‘Hey, repeat the same thing.’ The chief is aware of what’s involved and can make it work.”

Sugar Bowl organizers also are trying something bold: a Mardi Gras-style parade in Atlanta on New Year’s Eve, replete with floats, marching bands and beads.

A New Orleans event planner, Mardi Gras Productions, will stage the parade as well as a $150-a-head party at the Georgia World Congress Center that will benefit rebuilding efforts in New Orleans.

And as the game approaches, 60 to 75 volunteers will arrive from New Orleans, courtesy of travel vouchers from AirTran Airways.

“The whole idea is to not miss a beat,” Hoolahan said. “The same people who put on the event in New Orleans will be in Atlanta to put it on here.”

When the game is over, the packing will begin -- along with another scramble.

Louisiana state officials announced this month that they plan to refurbish the Superdome for football by Nov. 1, 2006, in time for part of the Saints’ season as well as the Sugar Bowl.

“The most critical component of our future is this restoration,” Hoolahan said. “A new stadium, in the short term, was not an option for us.”

State officials estimate the cost of repairs and improvements at $154 million to $182 million, much of it to be covered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Among the items that need to be replaced: all of the carpet, nearly a third of the drywall and stadium seats, the synthetic turf field and numerous escalators and elevators. Plans for enhancements include improvements to the suites, club rooms and scoreboards.

Knowing how construction tends toward delay, no one feels absolutely confident that the Superdome will be ready in time, but the decision to repair the building rather than build a new stadium was good news to the Sugar Bowl, which is scheduled to put on the bowl championship series title game after the 2007 season.

BCS officials, while supportive, recognize the schedule is tight. If there are significant delays, Baton Rouge might prove an alternative, with many hotel rooms there and in New Orleans expected to be available. “The commissioners haven’t discussed it yet,” BCS spokesman Bill Hancock said. “They’ll be meeting in January and will get a report on it. They’re all hoping, obviously, the game goes back home. The Sugar Bowl is absolutely a part of the BCS and will continue to be.”

Hoolahan and his staff, with their sprint almost complete, are preparing for a marathon.

“We’re telling [the BCS] we’ll get our house in order and be back stronger than ever,” Hoolahan said. “We have not only the state and the city behind us but hopefully the minds and hearts of people in this country.”