No pre-party or parachuters, but Armed Forces Bowl to go on despite arctic blast
FORT WORTH, Texas (CBSDFW.COM) — David Kulesz is a big Baylor fan.
"A huge fan. I've been to 7 games this year. I've been to a BYU game in Provo. I went to the Sugar Bowl last year," he says.
He'd normally never turn down tickets, but when someone offered him free seats at the 50 yard line to watch his alma mater play the Air Force at the Armed Forces Bowl Thursday evening at TCU, he said, no, thank you.
"18 degrees with 30 mph winds from the north? I think I'll stay home and watch it there," he said.
With temperatures expected to drop into the teens, many fans are reconsidering plans to attend the game, evident by the number of tickets you can find up for grabs online.
Organizers have cancelled the Fan Fest scheduled to happen before kick-off. The giant field sized flag seen in prior years won't be rolled out. And, the All Veteran Group parachuters who've been putting on a display for 20 years now are staying home, too.
"We would have exited the plane at about 5000 feet in the sky,' said Sunnydale Hyde, one of the team's professional skydivers. "We have pyrotechnics attached to our feet flying in."
Hyde says it just wouldn't be safe.
"We would have been fine as far as the cold goes. The winds, however, were the primary consideration for the need to cancel," he said.
The main event, the game itself, is scheduled to go forward, with most fans cheering from afar.