Effect of Hurricane Katrina on the New Orleans Saints

[1] In April 2005, Tom Benson, owner of the Saints, halted lease negotiations with the state of Louisiana until after the completion of the 2005 NFL season, due to a stadium dispute.

[2] Rumors quickly began to spread that San Antonio, Texas, Albuquerque, New Mexico and Los Angeles, California were being considered as possible destinations for the team.

[4] Practice facilities were arranged at a sports complex adjacent to Luther Burbank High School in San Antonio, Texas.

San Antonio Mayor Phil Hardberger had pushed a strong verbal campaign to pursue the Saints.

However, the NFL and commissioner Paul Tagliabue were both in favor of keeping the franchise in New Orleans or at least delaying a decision on a potential relocation.

Other rumors of the period said that the NFL preferred to move the team to Los Angeles, or even to expand to Toronto instead, as both cities are over twice the size of San Antonio.

[5] San Antonio officials, on the other hand, countered that Benson may have no choice—at the time, it was thought by some that New Orleans might never fully recover as a viable location for an NFL franchise, and that they were simply giving the franchise an option to relocate and remain economically viable, in this case to a city in which Benson already lives and has business interests.

[7] However, the San Antonio Express-News reported that sources close to the Saints organization said that Benson planned to void his lease agreement with New Orleans by declaring the Superdome unusable.

[9] NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue met with Benson and Louisiana governor Kathleen Blanco at the Saints's first home game in Baton Rouge on October 30 against the Miami Dolphins.

[17] Starting in the fall of 2006, the Saints returned to playing all of their regular home games of the 2006 season in New Orleans at the Superdome.