[MNF!] New Orleans Hopes to Make Superdome a Home Again
NewYork Times
By LEE JENKINS
Published: September 25, 2006
NEW ORLEANS, Sept. 24 — As the granddaughter of the man who owns the New
Orleans Saints, Rita Benson LeBlanc grew up watching football games at the
Superdome, wondering how concrete walls could always feel as if they were
shaking.
“I remember a lot of excitement,” Benson LeBlanc said. “And a little bit
of fear.”
The shaking starts again Monday night, along with the conflicting emotions.
On one side is overwhelming excitement, because of the reopening of the
Superdome, the home debut of Reggie Bush, the Saints’ startling 2-0 record
and the promise of an unprecedented pregame tailgate party.
On the other side is a thin layer of apprehension, because of the horror that
occurred in the Superdome less than 13 months ago, when the stadium became a
shelter from Hurricane Katrina and a symbol of human suffering.
“I realize that it may be hard for some people to come back here,” said
Kathleen Blanco, the governor of Louisiana. “But I believe that the very
best thing those people can do for their inner healing is to walk this walk
again, and let those memories fall out.”
A crowd of more than 68,000 is expected to heed her call. For the first time,
the Saints have sold out all of their season tickets, an obvious sign that
excitement has taken an early lead on apprehension.
The most striking aspect of the new Superdome — beyond the white roof and
the leather seats and the L.E.D. video boards — is the lighting system that
makes the field look as bright as a showroom.
On Aug. 29, 2005, when hurricane winds peeled off part of the Superdome roof
and took out most of the power, this stadium was seen around the world as a
dim and frightful place. One man apparently committed suicide by jumping off
a catwalk. One National Guardsman was shot in a locker room. Bodies were
stored in a refrigerator.
“Our intention was mainly to help people forget what happened,” said Sal
Palmisano, a Saints season-ticket holder who oversaw part of the construction
effort. “It was sort of like, ‘If we can’t rebuild our own house, let’s
try to rebuild this one.’ ”
The mission for the Saints, more than beating the Atlanta Falcons on Monday
night or qualifying for the playoffs this season, is to change the image of
their home field, from a place where people suffered to a place where people
can cheer.
No football team is capable of rebuilding neighborhoods or recruiting
families or making small businesses viable again. But with a couple of long
touchdowns, the Saints can turn the Superdome from a shelter back into a
stage.
“Some of the negative emotions will be erased once you see those fans and
hear them screaming for us,” Saints running back Deuce McAllister said.
To keep his team from experiencing emotional overload at kickoff, Coach Sean
Payton put the Saints through their first practice at the Superdome on Friday
night. When it was over, he gathered the players in a semicircle at the
50-yard line and turned off the lights.
One of the video boards played a movie about Hurricane Katrina — houses
leveled, neighborhoods ruined, a stadium torn asunder.
“I got a tingling sensation over my whole body,” defensive end Charles
Grant said. “We talked for a while afterward about everything we have seen
in the past year. We want to make this stadium home again.”
The transformation will begin Monday night with performances by U2 and Green
Day. Former President George H. W. Bush, who was nominated at the Superdome
in 1988, will flip the coin. News media outlets will include Al Jazeera.
Archie Manning, patriarch of New Orleans football, will broadcast for the
Home Shopping Network, which is selling N.F.L. merchandise with part of the
proceeds going to Katrina relief.
If the Saints were 0-2, locals would still compare this game to Super Bowls
and Final Fours. But because the team is 2-0, facing a traditional rival for
first place in the National Football Conference South, the hurricane is only
part of the backdrop. The outcome actually matters.
“To be honest,” Manning said, “I think most of us were just hoping to be
1-1.”
The Saints look a lot like a fantasy football team, with two excellent
running backs (Bush and McAllister), a top receiver (Joe Horn), a pedigreed
quarterback (Drew Brees), and not much else.
At this time last year, they were playing in San Antonio and dressing in a
locker room with cockroaches. Their fans were scattered across the country.
No one was allowed inside the Superdome without wearing a biohazard suit.
While Tom Benson, the Saints’ owner, was threatening to stay in San Antonio,
his granddaughter was reading letters from displaced season-ticket holders
from New Orleans.
Benson LeBlanc, the team’s executive vice president, remembers most of the
letters starting the same way: “I’ve lost everything. My tickets are my
only asset. I don’t know what to do. But when you get back, I’ll be back.”
The ones who did not come back had to be tracked down. Benson LeBlanc and her
staff played detective, finding season-ticket holders who had relocated and
persuading them to return. They offered a season-ticket package for as low as
$14 a game.
The long-term problem for the Saints is not selling those $14 tickets. It is
selling the luxury boxes and corporate sponsorships, hallmarks of big
business. For the Saints to stay in New Orleans, they need more than fans
wearing face paint.
“I think it can work,” said Arnie Fielkow, a member of the New Orleans City
Council. “But it’s going to take New Orleans coming back as a corporate
community so suites and sponsorships will follow.”
Fielkow has intimate knowledge of this issue because he used to be the Saints
’ executive vice president. He was fired last October, after urging Benson
not to abandon New Orleans. One of Fielkow’s allies in the cause was Roger
Goodell, now the N.F.L. commissioner. Goodell wanted to know when the
Superdome could be ready for a game. Doug Thornton, who oversees management
of the stadium, provided his best estimate: Dec. 1.
That was not good enough. To preserve the future of football in New Orleans,
a game had to be played in September. “Roger didn’t want us to worry about
all the suites and meeting rooms,” Thornton said. “He just told us: ‘Give
me a football stadium.’ ”
The Superdome underwent a rapid $185 million makeover, leaving the suites
relatively bare. Most are decorated with folding tables and patio chairs.
Fans who want carpeting and couches can bring their own.
This ranks among the least of all inconveniences in New Orleans. Squeezing
into a cramped seat and watching the Saints play football is still a luxury.
“I just get such a thrill from walking into that building,” said Dave
Dixon, known as the Father of the Superdome. “I never get tired of seeing
it. I love it. I really do.”
Dixon earned his nickname for helping to negotiate the building of the
Superdome in 1968. Since then, New Orleans has celebrated just one playoff
victory, but few cities have a stronger bond to their stadium.
During construction this summer, a small cardboard sculpture was sent to the
workers at the Superdome. On one side of the sculpture was a rendering of the
dome. On the other side was the rendering of a house. The dome was completed.
The house was still damaged.
Connecting the dome to the house was a set of angel wings.
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