Steelers will travel to and from New Jersey on game day

Hurricane Sandy has forced the Steelers to skip the hotel and fly to the game against the Giants. The Jersey Hotel that the team had planned to stay in does not have power. (US Presswire)

Talk about a day trip.

The Steelers will not be spending a night in a hotel -- as is almost universally customary in professional sports -- but instead will fly up Sunday morning for their game against the New York Giants and return home later that night.

A team official briefed several reporters of the team's plans late Thursday afternoon. The Jersey City hotel the Steelers had planned to stay in does not have power. Even if that situation changes by the weekend (or if another area hotel emerges with vacancies), the
Steelers do not want to burden hotel employees with a 100-plus member traveling party under the circumstances.

The team will fly into Newark (less than an hour of time in the air) mid-morning Sunday, bus to a hotel for a pregame meal and then head to MetLife Stadium. As usual, they will return home after the game.

Even outside the context of the tribulations (and, sometimes, tragedies) "regular people" are enduring along the Atlantic Coast this week, the Steelers will get little sympathy.

Giants QB Eli Manning, for example, said Wednesday his home did not have power and he is staying in a hotel this week. Surely, several other Giants players are dealing with similar issues -- on top of the stress of the situation in general. It's difficult to make a case that the disruption of the Steelers' routine is more jarring than what the Giants are going through this week.

Follow Steelers reporter Chris Adamski on Twitter @CBSSteelers and @BuzzsawPGH.