Saints eyeing Baton Rouge for home schedule
ESPN.com news services
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Katrina Has Forced the Saints Out of New Orleans
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."
ESPN.com news services
Related Video:
Katrina Has Forced the Saints Out of New Orleans
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."
