Saints to be away from New Orleans through September as city recovers: report

The NFL’s New Orleans Saints will spend the whole month of September away from New Orleans as the city recovers from Hurricane Ida. 

ESPN’s NFL reporter Adam Schefter shared Tuesday that the Saints’ head coach Sean Payton told team reporters that his team will be away from the city until October.

Schefter also said that the Saints’ regular-season home opener against the Green Bay Packers at the Caesars Superdome will be relocated.

Saints’ HC Sean Payton told reporters that the team will be away from New Orleans through September as the city recovers from Hurricane Ida. This means the regular-season week 1 Packers-Saints matchup is not expected to be played in New Orleans, as scheduled.

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) August 31, 2021

This comes amid the aftermath of Hurricane Ida hitting New Orleans and its surrounding areas on Sunday. The then-Category 4 storm ravaged the region, leaving massive flooding and damage to buildings as well as knocking out power for what’s expected to be weeks. 

Ida made its landfall on the 16th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, another storm that left a devastating impact on the city of New Orleans. The Saints played all of their scheduled home games in different cities throughout the 2005 NFL season, according to an ESPN report.

Payton said that his team will still be ready for their matchup against the Packers, ESPN reported. 

“Obviously we’ll have a Plan B,” Payton told reporters. “There are a lot of other things probably from a priority standpoint that are more important for our city. But that all being said, we fully anticipate starting the regular season with Green Bay, and then the question would be where that game is at. [But] I don’t see it being in Green Bay.”

The Hill has reached out to the NFL for comment.