The Saints likely will continue to practice in Dallas-Fort Worth while they are displaced from New Orleans, Jane Slater of NFL Media reports.
TCU is a possible practice site for the Saints, a source tells PFT, with SMU another option. The Steelers used TCU’s indoor practice facility to prepare for Super Bowl XLV in February 2011 at AT&T Stadium.
The Saints have used AT&T Stadium in Arlington as their practice facility this week.
The Saints also will have to find a stadium that can accomodate them for their season opener against the Packers. AT&T Stadium is hosting a Los Bukis concert Sept. 15, which Slater reports likely rules out the home of the Cowboys as a Week 1 option for the Saints.
But Saints coach Sean Payton mentioned AT&T Stadium as an option for the season opener against the Packers.
“It gets back to, well, there’s a chance that if our stadium is not ready to host the Packers in Week 1, where might that game be?” Payton said, via John DeShazier of the team website. “And there’s a chance that game could very well be right here at AT&T Stadium. “We’ve got enough fans in this area and Houston, and certainly from northern Louisiana, that we think that would be something that’s very realistic.
“So a major city with two airports, that gives you a lot of flexibility. Two programs, locally here, be it TCU and SMU, that have reached out that completely would love to be a part of helping us and hosting us. So it’s almost like you’re beginning to arrive at certain decisions that really make a lot of sense, as opposed to maybe in the very beginning. Because I know we started with some early thoughts of being out West. I think the away games (against Carolina and New England in Weeks 2 and 3) quickly changed our minds relative to that, where they were at. It’s a process and we’re getting closer here to where we think the best fit is.”
Dallas plays at the Buccaneers on Sept. 9 to open the season.
Payton said Tuesday the Saints are planning to remain away from home a month as New Orleans cleans up after Hurricane Ida.
