J. EDMUND BARNES

Digging through the sports pages has always been a morning ritual for me, something as sacred and clockwork as the first pot of coffee of the day. Nowadays I look to see what local sports the daily’s missed, and to see what sort of scuttlebutt their wide net of reporters and resources pulled in. A recent edition of an area newspaper included an above the fold story about Biloxi and the future of the Saints. A brief summary of the story would include bits about how the Saints are caravaning their players and coaches across the great state of Mississippi in order to build a regional fan base, how Deuce McAllister played for Ole Miss, and maybe even a few of the comments made by Saints Head Coach Jim Haslett and wide receiver Joe Horn. The choicest of the comments would be: “If they’re going to build a stadium(in Mississippi), build it between the Grand Casino and Beau Rivage,” by Haslett. “I love our fans, but they (Mississippi) know what we need. They know what Mr. Benson needs to make this football team operate comfortably,” by Horn. I thought back to a conversation I had about three months ago, in North Carolina, with an ex-patriot Louisianian and Saints fan. The discussion was over general ways of making the Saints a more profitable team. The idea was to move the team to a location where there could be a greater draw from the Gulf Coast area – someplace where a new stadium, should it be built, would sell out every weekend, guaranteed. We turned over several locations: Jackson, Biloxi, and Mobile. Each area has access to a potential fanbase and a major interstate nearby. And each city would be unsuited to housing the Saints. While the Saints are heading in the right direction with regional marketing, the idea of relocation within the region is misguided. There is just not enough support to justify the necessary infrastructure. Even the Mississippi Gulf Coast area, possibly the most ideal location for a regionally based Saints franchise, is unsuitable for these reasons. And if you don’t believe me, think about traffic on the I-10 in the CBD on gamedays. Pretty bad, huh? Then imagine the I-110 split into Biloxi on a Sunday.