Here’s a look at how the Saints’ summer and preseason may play out during the pandemic
As the 2020 calendar turns from May to June, we turn our eyes to the intersection of Trouble & Danger where the deadly COVID-19 pandemic and a potentially hyper-active hurricane season seem to be headed on a collision course.
It’s important to note that nobody -- and I repeat NOBODY, not even our country’s most celebrated coronavirus tracker, Dr. Anthony Fauci: Medicine Man, and the world’s most noted climatologist, Mother Nature -- knows what tomorrow may bring.
Oh, we have a good idea thanks to our epidemiological and meteorological experts but nothing anyone can deposit in the world bank.
With that in mind, here’s how I see the summer and start to the season potentially playing out for the New Orleans Saints, provided the NFL gets the green light and all 32 teams reach agreement on how to operate safely in a strange, new world of hygiene and distancing protocols.
▪ In June, look for Saints quarterback Drew Brees and possibly backup Jameis Winston to hook up with a passel of his receivers in San Diego, most notably veteran free agent Emmanuel Sanders.
▪ In the third week of July, all draft picks, first-year players and training camp invitees report ahead of the veterans for preliminary on-field work prior to the start of training camp.
▪ On or about July 22, all players report to the team’s practice facility in Metairie for the start of camp, marking the first time Saints coach Sean Payton sees his team up close and personal in nearly six months.
▪ I am unsure how the Saints will handle the number of reporters who can cover camp in person or if any of the practices will be open to the general public. At the very least, expect strict social distancing guidelines to be in place for both the media and fans in attendance.
▪ The Saints are tentatively scheduled to help open up the new $5 billion Sofi Stadium in a preseason game against the Los Angeles Rams (9 p.m.) on Aug. 14 at Inglewood, California.
▪ On Aug. 23, the Saints will face the Pittsburgh Steelers in a nationally-televised game at Heinz Field (Fox, 7 p.m.).
▪ The Saints close out the preseason with home games against the Houston Texans (Aug. 29, 7 p.m.) and the Miami Dolphins (Sept. 3, 7 p.m.) at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.
The Black and Gold opens the regular season at home against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Tom Brady at 3:25 p.m. (Fox) on Sept. 13.
It should be noted this entire column comes with a disclaimer. No plans are yet in place to play the 2020 season. Discussions among league officials, the NFL Players Association and the medical community are ramping up. Meantime, daily speculation runs wild. That said, I do believe teams will report to training camp in late July and some or all preseason games will be played. Whether fans will be allowed to attend games in person remains to be seen.
I suspect a limited number of ticketed fans will be allowed inside the Superdome on game days in the early stages beginning with dry runs in the preseason. Officials from the Superdome Commission and the Saints organization are currently reviewing a myriad of possible game-day scenarios, ranging from crowd sizes of 13,000 to 36,500 of the typical sellout crowd of 73,000-seat capacity.
Doug Thornton, executive vice-president of Superdome operator AMG Global, said fewer than 13,000 fans on game days is the worst case scenario.
“That is not acceptable,” Thornton told Fox affiliate WVUE-TV of New Orleans. “We want to get it to a higher level if we can. So we’re exploring creative ways.’”
There are two other worse case scenarios to consider:
▪ No fans on game days.
▪ No games at all.
The Saints playing before sellout crowds in the Superdome probably is wishful thinking. In the end, I think we’d all settle for the NFL season to go on as scheduled.
As long as COVID-19 and the hurricane season don’t meet at the intersection of Trouble & Danger.