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According to a report by Jeff Duncan of the Athletics, the New Orleans Saints game against the Carolina Panthers will take place in New Orleans as scheduled.
(Thread)
— Jeff Duncan (@JeffDuncan_) October 19, 2020
The Saints' game against the Panthers on Sunday will be played in the Superdome as planned. The Saints have discussed with LSU officials the possibility of playing future home games at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, where fans would be allowed to attend at 25% capacity.
Last week, reports emerged about the possibility of the Saints playing their home games in Tiger Stadium, which is allowed to have up to a 25% capacity. Both Saints and LSU communications confirmed that the two parties had in fact opened up a dialogue about Tiger Stadium hosting the Saints while New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell refused to let fans return to the Mercedes Benz Superdome.
The Saints Twitter account even chided into the discourse, firing off a tweet critical of Cantrell’s decision to withold fans from attendance in the interest of public health and safety:
Setting the record straight:
— New Orleans Saints (@Saints) October 15, 2020
Since Week 1, there have been 33 NFL games played with fans.
Of those games, 10 were played with fans in domed or enclosed stadiums:
Week 2:
DAL & INDY
Week 3:
INDY
Week 4:
HOU & DAL
Week 5:
atl, HOU & DAL
Week 6:
Indy & DAL
With LSU’s game against South Carolina being moved back three hours to 6:00 Saturday night, the already large task of flipping Tiger Stadium over to a state ready to host an NFL game at noon on Sunday became logistically impossible. However, according to Duncan, the Saints and LSU remain in discussion to hold future games in Baton Rouge, but the same problem of a quick turnaround rears its head again:
But the quick turnaround time and LSU's home game against South Carolina on Saturday night made playing the Panthers game there logistically impossible, so it was never a serious consideration. The Saints will face the same issue for their next home vs. the 49ers on Nov. 15.
— Jeff Duncan (@JeffDuncan_) October 19, 2020
LSU has a big night game against Alabama the previous night in Tiger Stadium. So barring a compromise or policy change from Mayor LaToya Cantrell, the Saints' earliest chance to play home games in front of a significant crowd will be their Week 11 game vs. Atlanta on Nov. 22.
— Jeff Duncan (@JeffDuncan_) October 19, 2020
The Saints have played in Tiger Stadium before in the 2005-06 season, when the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina forced the team to play games in San Antonio and Baton Rouge.