Where will the Saints play?

holy hell, who cares about the saints the whole city is going to be wiped out.

 

A little tidbit..

Last year during whatever hurricane hit New Orleans, I received a call from the stadium event staff company I worked for, to be on standby because there was a damn good chance that the hurricane was going to hit N.O., and that they would have to relocate the New Orleans/San Fran game that was to be played. I'm not quite sure if it was a late preseason game or an early regular season game, but it got to the point where we were all called on Wednesday to see if we could work that sunday. They had enough people ready to go if they needed to, at least from what I heard, and had the Hurricane hit N.O.

I'd have been welcoming the New Orleans Saints fan through the door. That'd have been weird. But anyway, for those wondering, Reliant stadium would definately be a temporary possibility, for a game or two.

 

You know....as bad as this sounds...Katrina could bring some good to NO regarding this situation with the Saints.

After Katrina passes, property losses will be in the billions nodoubt, which will force the state to focus there attention from keeping the Siants in town to rebuilding NO.

Why is this good?

For years, NO and the state of Louisiana have not been able to strike a deal with Tom Benson and the Saints, who is acting alot like Bud Adams with Houston. After the hurricane, no one can expect the state to even look at a deal for the Saints. Thus it will give the state a valid excuse to postpone a decision with the Saints for a few years, buying them time to come up with a financial deal to appease both sides and keep the Saints in town.

The NFL can be cruel, but I doubt they would let an owner pack up his team and move from a city devestated by a natural disaster. In essence, Katrina wil help save the Saints from marching to Los Angeles.

BTW, I expect the Chargers to bolt for LA due to the inablilty of striking a deal up to this point. Anaheim has a stadium deal put together...so my bet is we will be soon be seeing the "Los Angeles Chargers of Anaheim" in a few years.

 

From ESPN.Com...


Saints might not be able to return to New Orleans soon

By Len Pasquarelli
ESPN.com
Archive

Related Video:
Saints' players react to Hurricane Katrina


Even as the NFL continued to assess and evaluate the widespread damage caused by Hurricane Katrina, and the possible ramifications to playing in the damaged Louisiana Superdome, New Orleans Saints officials began exploring potential alternate sites for practices and perhaps even games.



Saints director of operations James Nagaoka was in contact with officials from other cities, most notably San Antonio, about moving practices as early as next week. The team is currently practicing in San Jose, Calif., in advance of Thursday night's preseason game against the Oakland Raiders, and the preference is to return to a city in the South or the Southwest to begin preparations for the Sept. 11 regular-season opener.

Mike Abington, director of the Alamodome in San Antonio, confirmed the Saints have spoken to city officials. Nagaoka inquired about the availability of the San Antonio School District Spring Sports Complex, a site that could be under consideration for team practices. The Saints practiced at the site last September, when they were forced to leave New Orleans in advance of Hurricane Ivan. It is believed that Nagaoka also contacted officials from other cities in the southwest.

One league owner said he believed the Saints had begun "at least preliminary" talks about an alternative playing site, with the Alamodome topping the list. The owner said that he had heard Houston was a possible alternative practice site.

Reliant Park could be used for the Saints' home opener if the Louisiana Superdome isn't available, stadium president and general manager Shea Guinn said Tuesday.

Guinn offered the stadium as an option to the NFL, but hasn't heard back from the league.

"It would be a heck of a lot of work and a challenge but the circumstances are extraordinary. We would do everything we can to help," Guinn told Houston television station KRIV.

The extent of damage to the Saints' complex in Metairie, La., was not yet known. Saints officials could not be immediately reached on Tuesday night as their cell phones, all with New Orleans area codes, did not answer or did not have a signal.

"We don't know anything yet about where we're going from here," said wide receiver Michael Lewis. "But from what we've seen [on television], and what we're hearing, it's going to be hard to go back to New Orleans and practice."

It might be equally difficult, even though the Saints don't play a home contest until Sept. 18 and have only one game during the first month of the season, to play at the Superdome anytime soon. League officials suggested Tuesday there might still be time to repair the tears in the roof of the Superdome. But even if that were the case, the general conditions in New Orleans, where 80 percent of the city is under water and electricity might not be restored for a month or more, could make a home schedule untenable, at least over the early part of the season.

League vice president of public relations Greg Aiello told ESPN.com in an e-mail that the NFL was still gathering information from New Orleans and Superdome officials.

San Antonio city councilman Roger Flores told the San Antonio Express-News newspaper that he had apprised Saints officials on Tuesday that the city would attempt to accommodate the club if a move is necessary. Saints owner Tom Benson, once one of San Antonio's biggest car dealers, still has strong ties to the city's business communities.

"Mr. Benson has been an integral part of our business community," Flores said. "We also have a fan base that should provide them with some measure of success financially."

Len Pasquarelli is a senior NFL writer for ESPN.com. To check out Len's chat archive, click here .



Espn's link

 

How was Shreveport effected by the storm? They could play in the Independence Stadium there. That would keep it in LA and be closer to the fan base.

 

KTRH reported this morning that McNair has offered up Reliant to the Saints for home games that don't conflict with the Texans.

 

that's not even worst case. they're telling people from Orleans Parish they absolutely will not be able to return for at least 3 months.

 

Tex, I saw that on FOX last night. I think Reliant would be a much better place for all NO games than all those college fields. Not to take anything away from the college stadiums, but for an NFL game, you need NFL facilities. The AlamoDome sucks ass and it's a b*tch to park near it as I have gone to a soccer game there last year.

 

And here's another great possibility:

LEGION FIELD a possible site for Saints games

By Dave Goldberg
Associated Press Writer
http://www.decaturdaily.com/decaturdaily/sports/050901/saints.shtml

There is only one certainty about the New Orleans Saints' future: They will live and work out of the Marriott Riverwalk in San Antonio for a while.

Beyond that, question marks abound. It's highly unlikely they'll be able to hold their home opener Sept. 18 at the Superdome — and they may not be able to play there at all this season after the stadium was ravaged by Hurricane Katrina.

So that first game against the New York Giants could be at the Alamodome in San Antonio. Or at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, La. Or even at Legion Field in Birmingham

And all of those sites could host other home games for the Saints, who escaped the hurricane by flying with their families last weekend to San Jose, Calif. New Orleans plays at Oakland tonight in its final exhibition game.

While the Saints and NFL officials have been discussing a variety of alternatives, they haven't talked with many of the people at the proposed sites.

"We can say is LSU an option, yeah, but is it an option with them?" Saints spokesman Greg Bensel said Wednesday by phone from San Jose. "That's the next hurdle. We haven't crossed that hurdle yet."

Only one hurdle has been crossed.

Following the Raiders game, the Saints will go to San Antonio, where they will stay at the same hotel they stayed at last season when Hurricane Ivan chased them out of New Orleans in the second week of the regular season.

The Saints also will use the same practice facilities at Trinity University, so they will have, as Bensel put it, "a certain comfort level with where we are."

That would seem to make
the Alamodome, which holds 65,000 for football, a logical alternative.

Not much, but I think it would make more sense than San Antonio; plus Birmingham is capable of supporting an NFL team.

EDIT: And apparently Bryant-Denny is also a possibility:

Bryant-Denny considered for Saints games

From combined reports
September 01, 2005
http://www.tidesports.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050901/NEWS/509010344/1011

TUSCALOOSA | Though University of Alabama officials have yet to be asked, the National Football League is apparently considering Bryant-Denny Stadium as one possible location for New Orleans Saints home games this season.

An NFL spokesman listed San Antonio, Houston, Dallas, Baton Rouge, La., and Tuscaloosa as sites under consideration to host the Saints’ Sept. 18 home opener and possibly the remainder of the team’s eight-game home schedule.

“We are exploring options, and San Antonio is clearly one, for Saints home games," NFL vice president of public relations Greg Aiello told the San Antonio Express-News. “But there are others."

Bryant-Denny, which has never hosted an NFL game, is in the midst of a $45 million renovation to increase capacity to just less than 95,000.

However, league officials are still considering options, and location of future games has not been a primary concern since Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast earlier this week.

“I was in meetings this morning and out [of the office] this afternoon," University of Alabama Director of Athletics Mal Moore said Tuesday night. “Nobody has contacted me about it. I’m sure they’re looking at proximity to New Orleans, but I have not spoken to anyone from the Saints."

According to The Associated Press, another possibility could be Legion Field in Birmingham, though the stadium’s upper deck remains unusable.

While LSU’s Tiger Stadium is only approximately 80 miles away in Baton Rogue -- and normally would be a desirable alternative for the NFL -- it doesn’t appear to be an option at this time.

“The scope of this tragedy is becoming more evident as time passes, and LSU’s focus is on assisting in the recovery effort of our state," LSU Chancellor Sean O’Keefe told the Express-News. “LSU is a primary evacuation site, and we are not going to conduct any activities that could deter from our mission of assisting in the recovery mission."

A number of locations on the LSU campus, and athletics facilities in particular, are being used in the recovery efforts.

Reportedly, the Los Angeles Coliseum is also being considered.

The Saints escaped the hurricane by flying with their families last weekend to San Jose, Calif. New Orleans plays at Oakland tonight in its final exhibition game.

The Saints will then travel to San Antonio, where they will stay at the same hotel they stayed at last season during Hurricane Ivan.

The Alamodome, which holds 65,000 for football, is approximately 550 miles from New Orleans, farther than the NFL would like.

Bowl Championship Series spokesman Bob Burda said Sugar Bowl officials hope to meet within the next few weeks to talk about what to do with the game scheduled for Jan. 2 in the Superdome.