The New Orleans Saints are readying a bid for the 2012 Super Bowl, a move to bring the city back into regular competition to host America’s top sporting event.
New Orleans has been the site of nine Super Bowls, more than any other city. The last contest was six years ago, though, and after Hurricane Katrina struck in 2005, the Saints played a full season on the road. After that, whether New Orleans could support its own team, let alone host another Super Bowl, was an open question.
“My grandfather has informed [the NFL] we would put in for 2012,” said Rita Benson LeBlanc, the team’s owner/executive vice president and the person in charge of the bid. Her grandfather is team majority owner Tom Benson.
She cautioned that if the team is unable to coordinate the various community and government agencies necessary to host the game, the bid could be delayed, meaning the city would look to the 2013 Super Bowl.
The Super Bowl last marched into New Orleans
and the Louisiana Superdome in 2002.
Indianapolis, Houston and Glendale, Ariz., are expected to submit bids by the April 1 deadline for the 2012 contest. Owners at their May meeting in Buckhead, Ga., are expected to choose a winner.
New Orleans would have a number of factors going for it. For one, it has long been seen by many as the best Super Bowl city, reflecting the compact nature of the city and its festive atmosphere. Sympathy also will clearly play a role, something the league already has demonstrated by contributing to the renovation of the Louisiana Superdome, the Saints’ home.
However, economic factors increasingly are playing a role in the review process as the host city and team are called on to deliver larger financial returns to the NFL.
“The real question is going to be how strongly the community, the public sector and the corporate base support the bid in a tangible manner,” said Marc Ganis, a sports business consultant with ties to several NFL teams, including the Saints. “We already know that the other communities are supporting their bids very strongly.”
The Saints have been able to sell out their games and maintain a decent sponsorship roster despite the state’s decline in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
Another issue will be the team’s lease. The NFL generally does not award the Super Bowl to a city confronting an unsettled lease situation with its local team. The Saints’ deal with the state of Louisiana to play in the Superdome expires in 2010. If the team thinks it can meet the April 1 deadline, that would indicate that the club hopes to have a new lease in place by then.
