ARLINGTON, Texas — The New Orleans Saints will play their season opener against the Green Bay Packers at TIAA Bank Field in Jacksonville, Florida, multiple sources have informed the The Times-Picayune | New Orleans Advocate.
The game will remain in the same time slot at 3:25 p.m. CT on Sept. 12 and will be aired on FOX, the NFL confirmed.
““It is never easy to make a decision that involves not playing a Saints home game in the Caesars Superdome, but I am confident that this is the right decision for our city at this juncture,” Saints owner Gayle Benson said in a statement. “Collectively, we have a monumental task ahead of us in cleaning up the after effects left by Hurricane Ida, but it has been inspiring to see people getting right to work and starting the process.”
Saints season ticket holders will be contacted with information on all available ticket options, the team said in a statement.
TIAA Bank Field was available because the Jacksonville Jaguars play on the road against the Houston Texans that day, and there are no conflicting concerts or other events on the arena’s schedule.
There were no closer venues to New Orleans available that day, as Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium and Houston’s NRG Stadium both host NFL games. AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, has a concert scheduled for later in that week and will need the building for setup that day.
Other NFL venues in the southeastern U.S., like Carolina’s Bank of America Stadium and Tennessee’s Nissan Stadium were also unavailable because of games. Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida, hosts the Buccaneers and the Cowboys a few days before on Thursday night.
The game was supposed to happen at the Caesars Superdome, but the aftermath of Hurricane Ida forced the Saints and the NFL to shift because of infrastructural damage in Louisiana.
The Superdome did not suffer any structural damage in the storm, but the city of New Orleans largely remains without power, and the city’s Sewerage and Water Board has urged citizens and those in the city to reduce their water consumption.
The Saints will continue to practice in the Dallas-Fort Worth area next week. The team has arranged to practice at TCU’s campus in Fort Worth in the lead up to the game against the Packers, sources have told The Times-Picayune | New Orleans Advocate. The team practiced at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, on Monday and Tuesday.
The Saints evacuated to Dallas on Saturday ahead of Hurricane Ida, chartering two planes to take approximately 300 people, including players, coaches, staffers and their families out of harm’s way.
Ida made landfall twice Sunday, around noon at Port Fourchon and near Galliano around 2 p.m. as a catastrophic Category 4 hurricane with sustained winds of 150 mph.
The storm slowly moved ashore, slugging across southeastern Louisiana at 10 miles per hour before its harshest effects were felt in the New Orleans area. All of Orleans Parish was left without power by 7:15 p.m. after Entergy New Orleans’ transmission lines sustained “catastrophic damage.”
A full assessment of the destruction remains underway, but a preliminary estimate from AccuWeather said the total damage from Hurricane Ida could reach $70 to $80 billion.
Power has slowly started to come back in portions of New Orleans East on Wednesday. Entergy New Orleans said around 11,500 customers in the Little Woods neighborhood had their power restored Wednesday. Though, it is still unknown when power will return to other neighborhoods around the city.
Saints coach Sean Payton said Tuesday that the team wouldn’t return to New Orleans until power had been restored to most of the city, reiterating that he didn’t want to bring the team back with New Orleans still in the dark.
This story is developing and will be updated.
