The New Orleans Saints kept up their tradition of futility Sunday by losing to the Miami Dolphins 21-6. Normally, we would leave football to the sports pages, but Hurricane Katrina has thrust Louisiana’s sole professional football team into our laps.
Now, and rightly, everyone from the administration down to the average student is wondering what to do with the Saints.
Chancellor O’Keefe was originally reported in The Daily Reveille as being upset by the Saints playing four home games at Tiger Stadium. But his communications director subsequently said his remarks were taken out of context and is now, according to an Associated Press article, open to the Saints playing next year’s entire home season here in the event that Superdome repairs are not completed in time.
All this comes as rumors swirl that Saints owner Tom Benson is considering moving the team to San Antonio. Luckily for Saints fans, NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue has stood firmly for their continued presence in the Pelican state, calling them “Louisiana’s team.” It seems, at the moment, that the future of the Saints, while not certain, is pointing toward staying in Louisiana.
The big question is, however, where will they play. Tiger Stadium, as the largest athletic complex in the state and location in what is now the largest city in Louisiana, make it a prime candidate to host “Louisiana’s team” next year.
We have no objections to the presence of the Saints on our campus and fans at last week’s game were respectful and the damage was no worse than the average Tigers game. But we would hope that in hosting the Saints the University itself would benefit.
Perhaps in exchange for providing our stadium, our grounds and our market to Benson’s team, a sort of profit-sharing arrangement could be reached. In addition to repairing the wear-and-tear of the stadium, as they already do, perhaps the Saints organization would donate a certain amount of money to a University scholarship fund or provide a monetary sum for LSU’s general fund.
We are happy to host a team many see as representing our state in its triumph over adversity. We also wish fans of the Saints the best in their attempt to keep their team in New Orleans. All we want, in the end, is some simple compensation for the University’s time and trouble.
We can also hope that playing on the same field as the Tigers, something may well rub off on the Saints. .