Saints Gab

The Saints are going nowhere, as finally after a full year of talks, the team has announced they have reached a tentative agreement with the state of Louisiana to stay at the Superdome through 2025. The agreement states that the team will not need a new stadium to stay in the state, but the Superdome will be upgraded and the state will resurrect an abandoned section of the Central Business District with a refurbished office tower and a new sports entertainment district.

The NO Times-Picayune reports that the sides are expected to formally announce the deal at a press conference later today. The deal reportedly could save the state $281 million when compared with the current agreement that pays the Saints $23 million in subsidies, the state would make $85 million in improvements to the Dome, and Saints owner Tom Benson and his family would buy the vacant Dominion Tower and New Orleans Centre and lease office space back to the state.

“Our community is coming back slowly, and I think this is going to be the shot in the arm that’s going to keep it going in that direction, ” Benson said Wednesday. “I really believe that this is going to be something that is going to be very sound for our community.”

The agreement to approve $85 million in upgrades to the Superdome will need approval from the Legislature. The article says that the money to make the improvements will come from the state’s surplus. “There was a lot of excitement about the savings to the state, ” Superdome Chairman Ron Forman said. “There were still concerns because this is a tough fiscal year. But we also believe that if we are going to have professional sports in New Orleans, this is so much better than what we had before. And when we show the savings to the legislators, we think we will get whatever we need.”

The city of New Orleans today threw their hat in the ring for the 2013 Super Bowl. The Saints and the Greater New Orleans Sports Foundation have officially submitted a bid to host the 2013 big game. Foundation president Jay Cicero says the bid submitted Friday afternoon deals with technical aspects of hosting the game, such as the availability of hotel rooms and convention facilities. New Orleans has hosted nine Super Bowls, but none since 2002.

From: WWL Radio

Negotiators for the state of Louisiana say they are getting very close to a deal to keep the New Orleans Saints playing football in the Superdome for a long time. They are also laying the groundwork for a Super Bowl bid. “We have high expectations and hopes that we can work out our negotiations with the Saints so we can go together and seek the Super Bowl,” lead negotiator Ron Forman told WWL First News. “The meetings have been very, very positive.” The current Saints contract expires next year.

Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers will take on the New Orleans Saints in what looks to be like a haymaker in the Superdome tonight. The primetime matchup on Monday Night Football will be the 21st game between these two teams. Both teams enter tonight’s matchup with records of 5-5 and are pursuing an intense playoff race.

Green Bay joined a three-way tie atop the NFC North with the Bears and Vikings last week defeating the Bears at home, 37-3.

Last week, New Orleans defeated the Chiefs 30-20 at Arrowhead Stadium. In a heated NFC South, the Saints currently find themselves at the bottom in 4th place.

This becomes a critical game for both teams as the race in each of their respective divisions has significantly tightened, leaving no room for error.

Read more

Recently, some statements have been made by Saints General Manager Mickey Loomis when discussing whether the Saints would return to New Orleans for the season opener against Tampa Bay and by Howie Long on the Fox pre-game show on this past Sunday. Both of these individuals statements questioned whether New Orleans was a realistic long-term home for the team.

I just wanted to say something about this before it gets too far.

This kind of talk isn’t fair. No one questions whether northern California should have professional sports teams despite their tendency to have earthquakes and forest fires. No one questions whether the Florida NFL franchises should be located in hurricane-free areas either.

Read more

The Saints got some good news today, as it was announced that their scheduled home game vs the Bucs on Sunday at 1pm is still on.  Of course with Gustav coming through, there was major concern that they would not be able to play the game at the SuperDome, but instead the stadium is in fairly good shape and able to host the game.

“There were a number of critical issues that needed to be addressed before we could make this announcement,” Saints owner Tom Benson said.  “We have been assured by Superdome officials that the stadium is ready to host our fans and our team for a sold out game this Sunday and we have been assured by our political leaders that we have their support in making this happen.

“Our number one priority was making sure that the people of our community were safe during the storm and are now able to return safely.  There is a critical re-entry process that we all must follow and we must do that as efficiently as possible.  We will once again showcase to a national audience that the city of New Orleans is made up of resilient people and that we are ready to stand our city back up as quickly as possible, put this storm behind us and move on with our lives.”

The Saints site says that the team will make its return to New Orleans on Friday afternoon after practicing the rest of the week at Lucas Oil Stadium, the new home of the Colts in Indy.  “We are happy to report the Superdome sustained only minimal damage from Hurricane Gustav; primarily to exterior marquees,” said SMG Regional Vice President/General Manager Doug Thornton. “It takes significant resources to run the Dome for a Saints game and we are very pleased that our employees, subcontractors and suppliers will all be available when the doors open on Sunday.”

The Saints are looking to rebound for a big 2008 season, and right now great Saints football tickets are available at Coast to Coast tickets. They have an excellent up to date New Orleans theater guide, as well as sold out tickets to any show anywhere in the country. If you need Superdome football tickets, or other great NFL postseason tickets, make sure you make Coast to Coast tickets your first stop as you follow the Saints this season all the way to Super Bowl 43.