You Gotta Have Faith

Steve has a play by play rant on the status of the New Orlrans football team post Katrina. This unfolding story is one to watch as the city of New Orlrans deals with the repairs to the SuperDome, the fan base, NFL public relations and owner Tom Benson's perfect alibi to leave town for greener pastures...

That was the slogan of this year's New Orleans Saints. Some clever commercials and the expectation that the long suffering Saints fans would support another questionable team, that's what the Saints offered. If faith is what the fans needed,talent is what the Saints needed. In the Saints long history the team has managed to win exactly one playoff game. But the New Orleans fans are faithful and over the last several years our relatively small city produced a long string of sellouts watching a mostly mediocre team continue a tradition of mediocrity.

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After playing at the Superdome for more than two decades, the New Orleans Saints are one of several teams in the NFL who want a new stadium built. In the summer of 2001, owner of the Saints, Tom Benson requested that a new retractable roof stadium be built for the team by the 2006 season. Several sites have been discussed on where the stadium should be built including one 10 blocks from the Superdome. However, since 2001, little progress has been made on a new facility for the Saints. Originally the projected cost was roughly $450 million. Under the original plans, if a new stadium was built, it would be in an oval shape with 60-70,000 seats and a retractable roof to protect fans from bad weather. The stadium would also include a state of the art entertainment system, and fans would also be allowed to tailgate around the stadium. Throughout 2004 and 2005 there have been discussions of the Saints possibly relocating to Los Angeles or possibly San Antonio. There has been discussions of renovating the Superdome at a cost of around $174 million, but in April 2005, the Saints dropped the negotiations. The team does have a clause that allows them to leave the Superdome at New Orleans after the 2005 season.

Source: Saints Stadium