Saints To Play Four Games In Baton Rouge, Three In Alamodome

Saints To Split Home Games Between LSU’s Tiger Stadium And Alamodome

The Saints will play four home games at LSU’s Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge and three at San Antonio’s Alamodome, according to Jim Kleinpeter of the New Orleans TIMES-PICAYUNE. The first game played at Baton Rouge will be October 30 against the Dolphins, who are coached by former LSU coach Nick Saban. The other games will be November 6 (Bears), December 4 (Buccaneers, with former LSU WR Michael Clayton) and December 18 (Panthers). The Alamodome will host the team on October 2 (Bills), October 16 (Falcons) and December 24 (Lions). NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue said the priority for the rescheduling “has to continue to be recovery and rebuilding” from Hurricane Katrina. Tagliabue: “If you look ahead for the next two weeks, the next month, we should stay out of the way of those priorities being met. The appropriate time for the Saints to start playing games at LSU would be [October 30].” Saints Owner Tom Benson said that the Lions game on Christmas Eve was scheduled in San Antonio “so players could be with their families, most of which have relocated there.” Neither Tagliabue nor Benson discussed the future of the Superdome, and Benson declined to talk about the future of the team in New Orleans. Benson did say, “I don’t want to leave Louisiana.” Benson said that he plans to “set up a staff in Baton Rouge as soon as possible and that season-ticket holders’ tickets will be good in Baton Rouge and San Antonio.” Tagliabue is “confident hotel room availability would not be a problem” in Baton Rouge (NOLA.com, 9/12). In Houston, David Barron reports it is undecided where the Saints would host playoff games if they earn home-field advantage in the postseason. Meanwhile, San Antonio Sports Foundation Exec Dir Susan Blackwood said that the city “did not guarantee sellouts” for games at the Alamodome (HOUSTON CHRONICLE, 9/13).

LOSSES COVERED: In Baton Rouge, Les East reports the Saints have agreed “to cover LSU’s game-day expenses, which are about $300,000 per game” (Baton Rouge ADVOCATE, 9/13). LSU Associate AD Herb Vincent said, “LSU will obviously be reimbursed for expenses and would not suffer financial losses from this arrangement. Beyond that not a lot of details have been settled” (NOLA.com, 9/12).

SAN ANTONIO DETAILS: In San Antonio, Tom Orsborn reports San Antonio “quickly set up a number for fans to place ticket orders,” and a formal plan for ticket sales is expected today. A city employee said that “hundreds of calls” for tickets were received within hours of the announcement. San Antonio Mayor Phil Hardberger said that the team will “reimburse the city $1[M] for dome operating expenses” (SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS, 9/13). Benson said he expects the Alamodome games “to be televised nationally and it could make me not only proud of our football team, but it would also make the mayor proud to show what kind of great city you have here in San Antonio. This effort and this schedule will help rebuild Louisiana and the Gulf South” (NOLA.com, 9/12).

SIGN OF THINGS TO COME? In San Antonio, David Flores notes the city “made a pitch to join the NFL” in ’93; the league added Charlotte and Jacksonville as expansion markets in ’95. Former San Antonio Mayor Nelson Wolff said that the city “is much better off economically than it was then,” citing the city’s Toyota plant, a Washington Mutual regional operations center and the TPC golf complex. Former San Antonio Mayor and former U.S. Secretary of Housing & Urban Development Henry Cisneros said of this season’s Saints games, “I think we’ll fill [the Alamodome] up” (SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS, 9/13). Regarding the prospect of San Antonio becoming a future NFL market, Hardberger said the three games in San Antonio “could lead to something bigger, but first we have to ... make sure we sell out these games.” Cisneros said, “It ought not be judged as a lead-in to getting an NFL team. But it is an opportunity for us to show we are a bona fide NFL city.” However, a source close to the NFL said that Benson’s “long-term intentions are clear.” The source: “That’s what this is all about. He’s getting a dry run” (SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS, 9/13). Wolff said that the city “can’t worry about trying to land the Saints long-term right now.” Wolff: “If we do well and support them right, I think we will be considered for something down the road” (NOLA.com, 9/12). Tulane Univ. Sports Law Dir Gary Roberts said, “Everyone knows New Orleans was a marginal major league market. More and more, the NFL has come to rely on corporate dollars and New Orleans doesn’t have a very large corporate base.” But Galatioto Sports Partners President Sal Galatioto said, “It would be terrible from a public relations point of view for someone to come in and be seen as poaching [the Saints]” (CNNMONEY.com, 9/12).

Conwell Believes Saints Games Could Burden Baton Rouge

PLAYER REAX: In San Antonio, Mike Finger writes Saints players “pushed ... hard through [the NFLPA] to keep as many games as possible at the Alamodome,” since the team has moved its base of operations to the city and many of the players’ families are staying there. Saints DE Darren Howard: “It’s not that we don’t want to play there, but Baton Rouge is still a road game. Every (other) NFL team gets eight home games. That puts us at a disadvantage.” Saints TE Ernie Conwell said that he is worried that playing in Baton Rouge “might inconvenience a city already bursting at the seams with people in evacuee shelters and hotel rooms.” Conwell: “We don’t want to be a burden to the city.” But Saints RB Deuce McAllister said that he was “willing to sacrifice time with his family and the benefits of playing in the Alamodome.” McAllister: “I want to make it as easy as possible on the fans” (SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS, 9/13).

COLUMNIST REAX: In New Orleans, John Deshazier wrote while it “certainly doesn’t appear that Saints fans won in Monday’s announcement, ... it could’ve been worse.” Tagliabue “could have succumbed to the wish of the organization, which was to play most, if not all, of the home games in San Antonio.” Deshazier: “Maybe the thinking was that San Antonio was owed a debt of gratitude beyond ‘thank you.’ ... But payment shouldn’t have been to award the city almost as many games as the Saints will play in Baton Rouge” (NOLA.com, 9/12). In an open letter to Benson, SI’s Peter King wrote the people of Louisiana “need the Saints. This region needs the Saints, now more than any other time in the 38-year history of the franchise. And the future of the team -– and I would say even this incredibly needy region -– is in your hands as much as any single person in the [U.S.] right now. ... They want to hear you make a clear, unmistakable declaration that the Saints will stay in New Orleans” (SI.com, 9/12).

N.Y. SAINTS: Tagliabue said that the disadvantage to the Saints of playing their “home” opener against the Giants at the Meadowlands next Monday was “‘inconsequential’ in the context of the national tragedy that prompted his decision.” He added that a large-scale fund-raising effort for hurricane victims will take place and that N.Y., four years after the attacks on the World Trade Center, “was a natural site for such an undertaking” (ATLANTA CONSTITUTION, 9/13). While Saints season-ticket holders and fans who had tickets to the Saints’ home opener in the Superdome “were given first chance to buy tickets” to Monday’s game, the Giants said that 3,500-4,000 of those fans bought tickets. But in N.Y., Gary Myers writes some of those were “likely Giants fans who bought tickets just for that game and had planned to travel to New Orleans” (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 9/13). Also in N.Y., Andrew Marchand reports ESPN’s Sunday Night announcing crew of Mike Patrick, Joe Theismann and Paul Maguire will call the game, which will move from ABC to ESPN at 9:00pm ET in most of the country. Mike Tirico and Sterling Sharpe will announce Sunday night’s Chiefs-Raiders game for ESPN (N.Y. POST, 9/13).