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If you do, please give proper credit.
Fixing the 'dome is completely valid, but it won't be fixed for the NFL. More like a central staging location for storage/refugees/equipment/etc.
If you do, please give proper credit.
No, the actual source was Fox News.....Some reporter claimed that the Saints will be playing in San Antonio because no place could be found nearby that was available. Most of the surrounding sites are being used to house hurricane refugees. That's what was reported. I'm not sure where they got this from.
While it would be a bad thing to move, the Saints aren't happy with the Superdome. Why would they be happy with a patched up/repaired Superdome?
Um ... the Saints can't leave New Orleans now for a good ten years. It's the principle of the matter now. The NFL would never go for the public out cry that would occur if the Saints leave Louisiana.
That would never fly. And honestly, it shouldn't. There are some long time Saints fans that would be cheered up by going to a Saints game and seeing their lives return to normalcy.
It'd be dirty to screw over New Orleans like that.
What if only a fraction of people go back to New Orleans to live? What if the people can't support the team after everything is said and done? Why would they stay?
They're a business first, and business 101, if you're not making money you're going to fail.
If the city can come back 100% and be like it was before the storm, then great, but that just seems so unlikely.
So if something happened to SA and all that was left where the residents of the southside, do you think the Spurs would stay in SA? No.
Dude, think about the people. How would you like if San Antonio flooded and everyone had to evacuate and then you come back months later and the Spurs new permanent home was St. Louis?
It would be a major blow for the city on top of what mother nature struck. You don't kick a city while it's down.
Think.
Again, the future of New Orleans is SOOO up in the air? How long before it's even 20% back to normal? How long before all those homes will be rebuilt?
Sure the Downtown survived but when 80% of your city is under high water for weeks on end, those homes are not going to be fine to live in.
Of course you don't kick a city when its down, but this isn't like that. This is just basic business, just like people who are leaving New Orleans forever. Are they kicking the city? No. They know that No job + no home = not survivable.
The NFL will help the Saints if it comes down to it. They will not ruin their reputation and move the Saints when the city actually needs them.
For whatever the city becomes, the Saints and other sports teams will help the city unify again. Sports means more to a city than just money. It'll be a way for the New Orleans community to feel whole once again.
Ten or fifteen years down the line if the city is significantly smaller and all the businesses are gone, then yeah they'll move. But not anytime soon.
P.S.
Plus with all the government aid going to NO, they'll probably be richer than they were before this hurricane. It was an incredibly poor city to begin with.
The city needs a football team? What? They need a lot more important things besides a football team.
Alright, we'll see who is right.
I'll bump this thread when the Saints are playing their home games in New Orleans next year.
Next.
Anyone who thinks the NFL would use a natural disaster as an excuse to move a team permanently is nuts. The PR backlash from that would be massive.
We will.
I hope you're right. I hope New Orleans comes back to its feet. But I also realisticly don't see it happening.
Exactly.
This reminds me of the time TheWriter said the NBA would never have anything to do with Las Vegas.
Don't make me find the 'arguing over the internet' jpg again.
If losing a large amount of your population, if it takes years for the economy of NO and all of the gulf shore to become somewhat recognizable, if losing thousands of homes, if all that isn't enough for a business like professional sports to say, well we won't be able to survive in NO, I don't know what would.
Isnt the Saints in NO for 10yrs contingent on the city paying Benson like $10-$15 mil a year?
After this, I would think it would be hard for the city gov to justify spending millions to Benson and not rebuilding.
I thought that was great as well.
The league will NOT use this as an excuse to move the team.
That being said...if LA can not support an NFL team anymore (which might actually be the case)...then they will have NO CHOICE but to leave. At least until the city is rebuilt and back up to speed.
Government money is going to go to rebuilding the city...not buying tickets. It will all come down to the people. Right now..it doesnt look good for enough people to have the money to splurge on pricey football tickets in the next few years. They already had troubles selling tickets there.
However. At worse I think it would be like when the Oilers or Browns left. A team would come back eventually..maybe with the Saints name...maybe not.
But the league is NOT going to keep a team there if they cant support it. It doesnt matter why they cant support it. If they cant support the team after a year goes by...the team wont stay there. Its as simple as that.
I think if the Saints had to leave, the way the NFL would handle PR would be to promise New Orleans another team as soon as the city was able to support one.
Saints eyeing Baton Rouge for home schedule
ESPN.com news services
NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue says it's unlikely the New Orleans Saints will play in New Orleans this season after the devastation Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath inflicted on the city, but the team told ESPN that keeping games in Louisiana is a priority.
"At this point you have to proceed on the assumption … that they may be unable to play in New Orleans at all for the entire season," Tagliabue said Thursday in an interview with CNBC.
"If things evolve in a positive way, then that would be something that we could adjust to. But our assumption is that for planning purposes, we should assume it will be difficult if not impossible to play in New Orleans at all this year."
The Saints will move into a hotel in San Antonio, Texas, this weekend and practice in San Antonio in preparation for their regular-season opener at Carolina Sept. 11. They have spent this week in San Jose, Calif., and played their final exhibition Thursday night in Oakland.
But it still hasn't been decided where they will play their regular-season opener Sept. 18 against the New York Giants or play the rest of their games.
Saints general manager Mickey Loomis on Thursday told ESPN's Colleen Dominguez the team would prefer to play this season's home schedule in Louisiana and the logical choice would be LSU's Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge. Loomis expects a decision to be reached in a matter of days.
The New Jersey Sports & Exposition Authority, which runs Giants Stadium, has offered to host the upcoming Giants-Saints game in New Jersey. It would likely be played Monday, Sept. 19 because the Jets will play Miami that Sunday at Giants Stadium.
Tagliabue said moving the game to New Jersey was one possibility.
He also said games could be played at another NFL stadium or at a non-NFL stadium. He didn't name any specifically, but the Alamodome in San Antonio seats 65,000 for football, about the same as the Saints' regular home at the Superdome in New Orleans, which was heavily damaged by Katrina.
Tagliabue, who announced on Wednesday that the NFL was donating $1 million to the recovery effort, added that the emphasis should be the total recovery of the region hit by the hurricane. So did Gene Upshaw, the executive director of the NFL Players Association in a statement released on Thursday, although Upshaw did not immediately say what form the union's help would take.
"We want to really emphasize above all that sport is a small part of life," Tagliabue said. "We want to use are visibility and the respect we have with the public and the respect our teams have to support the national recovery program. That's the big thing."
I think I heard the reports on ESPN from some dude actually from Louisiana...and I think the Alamo Dome was his #2 choice...but the way he explained it...the first choice wouldn't work cause of scheduling conflicts...so he thought the Alamo Dome would probably be the place...
My 2cents ... San Antonio should push hard to get the Saints on loan for a year. The benefit from the attention would be HUGE.
Ideally, San Antonio could parlay this into a long term deal to permanently host the Super Bowl at a neutral site, but alas, Henry C's vision comes up a little short, given the limited seating in a football config (65,000 ??)
Go Spurs!
Puro San Antonio!
WOAI reported that the Saints players will begin to look for housing and schools when they arrive. Read into that as you will.
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