Saints football is the last thing on the minds of many in New Orleans as Hurricane Ida makes its way through the city, but the aftermath of the storm could disrupt the start of the Saints’ season.
The Saints are scheduled to play the Packers next Sunday, Sept. 12, at the Caesar’s Superdome but damage from the hurricane could leave the organization scrambling to find an alternative location.
Saints head coach Sean Payton was asked about contingency plans for Week 1 during his Zoom call with reporters on Monday, but said there is still too much uncertainty regarding the situation.
“We don’t know relative on Week 1 in the Superdome,” Payton said. “We’ll have a Plan B. There’s a lot of things from a priority standpoint that are more important to our city.”
Payton would not divulge on what that Plan B may be, but he said it was unlikely that the game would be played in Green Bay instead.
Currently, the Saints have evacuated to Dallas where they are conducting practices at AT&T Stadium.
Ida, which has been classified as a category 4 storm, made landfall exactly 16 years to the date when Hurricane Katrina devastated the city.
Following Katrina, the Saints were forced to set up base in San Antonio and play home games at the Alamodome and at LSU’s Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge. They also played their first home game of the season at Giants Stadium, where New York was the away team.
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