Sport category: Football NFL schedule released Saints march back to Superdome in Week 3
Date: 07-04-2006 14:35
The NFL released its 2006 schedule Thursday, and New Orleans' efforts to bounce back from the destruction wrought by Hurricane Katrina drew the personal attention of Commissioner Paul Tagliabue, who announced the Saints' home opener at a news conference outside the dome.
Saints owner/executive Rita Benson LeBlanc said the kickoff of the eight-game home slate in a stadium undergoing more than $100 million in repairs would be "a tangible event in the rebuilding of New Orleans."
After playing their home preseason games in Shreveport, La., and Jackson, Miss., and two others on the road, the Saints will visit the Cleveland Browns and Green Bay Packers before they become the highlight of Week 3. They did not play a regular-season game in the Superdome last season with much of the city flooded and uninhabitable after the storm.
Tagliabue said support from the business community was "very, very strong" and an important factor in trying to keep the Saints in New Orleans.
"Hopefully, people will recognize there is reason to be positive and recognize that out of tragedy can come great achievement and vision and hope for the future," said Tagliabue, who met with business leaders earlier. He wore a gold fleur-de-lis, the symbol of both the city and the Saints, on his lapel.
"We still have a long ways to go to accomplish all the goals we have," he said.
Tagliabue has been helping with regional marketing both to prospective suite holders and corporate sponsors. After making the announcement about the game, he left with LeBlanc to meet with business leaders in upscale, still-thriving suburbs on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain. They then planned to go to Jackson, Miss., where the Saints also will host a preseason game against the Indianapolis Colts. Ole Miss star and former Saints quarterback Archie Manning was with Tagliabue for the trip to Jackson.
Given the popularity of football in the Gulf South, NFL officials have spoken optimistically that the Saints, in a smaller New Orleans, can still be successful by following a regional model similar to that of Green Bay.
"We have to keep emphasizing the importance of the Saints representing the entire region and make everyone understand this city has been hit so hard it takes the entire region to make it work," Tagliabue said.
To that end, the Sept. 25 game is expected to include ceremonies honoring New Orleans' contributions to Super Bowl history — there have been nine in the city — and promoting more celebrated aspects of south Louisiana culture, such as its music and cuisine, Tagliabue and LeBlanc said.
"We can show the nation, as Saints fans, our passion for the unique way of life in New Orleans and the Gulf South region," LeBlanc said.
Other schedule highlights:
• A Christmas Monday doubleheader features the Philadelphia Eagles-Dallas Cowboys and New York Jets-Miami Dolphins. Cowboys wide receiver Terrell Owens' return to Philadelphia with his new team will be Oct. 8.
• The Arizona Cardinals get to play at home in Week 1 for the first time since they moved west in 1988. The Cardinals will play in a new stadium with a retractable roof. They open with the San Francisco 49ers.
• ESPN's new Monday night package will begin on Sept. 11 with a doubleheader: Minnesota at Washington at 7 p.m. Eastern time followed by San Diego at Oakland at 10:15 p.m. The Thanksgiving games feature Miami at Detroit and Tampa Bay at Dallas followed by Denver at Kansas City in an 8 p.m. start, the first of eight games to be carried by the NFL Network.
• In addition to the Thanksgiving game, the other NFL Network games, all played at 8 p.m. Eastern time are: Baltimore at Cincinnati, Nov. 30; Cleveland at Pittsburgh, Dec. 7; San Francisco at Seattle, Dec. 14; Dallas at Atlanta, Dec. 16; Minnesota at Green Bay, Dec. 21; Kansas City at Oakland, Dec. 23; and the Giants at Washington, Dec. 30.
This will be the first season of flexible scheduling for prime-time games, with the league having the right to shift Sunday day games to Sunday night games if the scheduled night game involves an unattractive matchup.
The league is also flexible on starting times. No national doubleheader games were designated on the schedule, allowing Fox and CBS to get the most attractive games as the season unfolds.
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