• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Saints Come Marching Back *** All 2006 Games to Be Played in Louisiana

Posted on: Saturday, 31 December 2005, 18:00 CST

By LES EAST

Saints come marching back *** All 2006 games to be played in Louisiana

METAIRIE The New Orleans Saints will return to their practice facility next month and play all of their games next season in Louisiana and could be back in the Superdome by mid-September.

Owner Tom Benson broke the news to members of the organization during a meeting with NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue on Friday morning in San Antonio, flew to New Orleans to make the official announcement at the teams headquarters, then went back to San Antonio.

Benson said he told the news to Gov. Kathleen Blanco over the phone moments before reading his prepared statement to the media. He left without taking questions, but said hell talk more in a couple of weeks.

The Saints are committed to continuing our role as a community leader, an economic engine and an integral part of the fabric of the city of New Orleans and the great Gulf South region, Benson said. Were eager to do our part in rebuilding New Orleans.

Though Benson made several references to the Saints being committed to helping in New Orleans recovery from Hurricane Katrina, Fridays announcement provides no guarantee beyond the 2006 season.

An agreement Benson and Blanco signed last month postponed until early 2007 the deadline for Benson to invoke two potential out clauses in his lease with the state. One is an Act of God clause relating to the Dome being unavailable and the other is an $81 million buyout.

The Saints return to New Orleans after the season, at the insistence of Tagliabue and with the support of NFL Players Association chief Gene Upshaw, had been anticipated for weeks. But the prospect of playing games in the Superdome at the start of the football season is much more ambitious than the Nov. 1 date suggested by Dome officials earlier this month.

If that happens, the Saints wont need to play any games in Tiger Stadium, which hosted four games this season. LSU would likely play host to any games that cant be played in the Dome.

I would like us to play all of our games in one venue, General Manager Mickey Loomis said, so we can re-create the homefield advantage that we have in the Dome.

Dome spokesman Bill Curl said its possible the Dome could be football ready with some but not all of the proposed upgrades completed in September.

Its not automatic, but it is feasible that it could be ready for the start of football season, Curl said. Weve been working with the architects and engineers. Its been an ongoing learning process about all that is involved. In the next few weeks well learn more and more.

Tagliabue is scheduled to visit New Orleans in January to get an update on the repairs to the Dome and the recovery of the city.

The commissioner said Saints players asked him if the return to New Orleans was a one-year experiment or a multiyear commitment.

I told them that it is not a one-year experiment, that our goal is to make a multiyear effort, Tagliabue said, but I also said there are a lot of things yet to be accomplished before we can be certain that it will be a multiyear effort. Its a complicated situation.

The Saints relocated to San Antonio days after Hurricane Katrina made the Superdome unusable. The Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Louisiana National Guard inhabited the training facility during the early weeks of the recovery effort.

Benson said he was turned away from the facility at gunpoint when he tried to enter it Sept. 4. Government officials vacated the facility in early October, but the Saints remained in San Antonio as an attorney for Benson sent a letter to the state saying the facility was unusable and might never again be usable.

State officials toured the facility a couple of weeks later and described the damage as minor. Tagliabue toured it Dec. 6 and said it was in excellent condition.

Last week, the state sent the Saints official notice that FEMA and the National Guard no longer have any need for the facility and formally requested the team return there.

The formal notice in writing from the state and FEMA that they were returning this facility back to us made this possible, Benson said.

He thanked San Antonio, which hosted three Saints games, for its hospitality. San Antonio Mayor Phil Hardberger said on several occasions he and Benson had discussed a permanent relocation of the franchise there.

But San Antonio is out of the picture for at least the time being as Benson begins trying to repair relationships with state and local officials as well as fans, many of whom were bitterly offended by his apparent attempts to leave permanently.

The state of Louisiana and the city of New Orleans welcome the Saints back home, said Larry Roedel, lead counsel for the Louisiana Stadium and Exposition District. While the negotiation and planning process may have been bumpy at times, the end result for 2006 and beyond will be excellent.

The next generation of loyal Saints fans looks forward to a rebuilt Superdome, a re-energized city, and a team that is back home. Now, we need to focus on getting the Superdome ready for its lead tenant.

Loomis said the administrative offices likely will reopen Jan. 16. The players will have their annual post-season physicals Monday in San Antonio, then be on their own. The football operations staff will return after scouting the East-West Shrine college all-star game, which is being held Jan. 21 in San Antonio.

Saints coach Jim Haslett said after practice Friday the team is unsure of exactly what its returning to in the New Orleans area, but it is sure of getting one thing it didnt have in San Antonio: an NFL- quality practice facility.

Weve got one of the best facilities in the National Football League back there, he said, so from that standpoint, its probably a good situation stability-wise, because we do have a great indoor facility and a weight room and meeting space and a locker room thats outstanding.

I think San Antonio was outstanding. I appreciate everybodys help. The people bent over backward for us on and off the field. Its a great city and a first-class city and probably deserving of an NFL club, but for our club right now and where were at, the best thing for our club is to probably right now go back and help rebuild the city and to be a part of it and try to get this football team going in the right direction.

The Saints are 3-12 and the future for Haslett, who has one year remaining on his contract, is uncertain.

As he read his prepared statement, Benson was flanked by seven members of his front office, which lost several other members during the season because of firings and resignations.

The most-notable departure was that of Executive Vice President of Administration Arnold Fielkow, who was fired in October for trying to get Benson to return to Louisiana as soon as possible.

This current Saints management team has decided that returning to our practice facility in Metairie is in the best interests of our football team and the right thing to do for the New Orleans community, Benson said. We are whole-heartedly committed to making the Saints better than ever both on and off the field.

Though LSUs future role with the Saints is unclear, the school issued notice Friday it stands ready to help.

LSU has participated in the hurricane recovery efforts in many different ways, and we were proud to host four New Orleans Saints games on our campus this season as part of our states recovery, LSU Chancellor Sean OKeefe said in a statement released by the school.

LSU stands ready to assist the state and to support the Saints in their transition back to Louisiana by making Tiger Stadium available if we are called upon again in 2006.

I also want to express my sincere appreciation to NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue for his leadership in the months after the hurricanes as we worked together with the state to provide a home for the Saints.

Source: Advocate; Baton Rouge, La.

More News in this Category