Hey @Saints the Vaught is free on Sundays! #ComeToTheSip ask @dmcallister26 🔥 https://t.co/TPOlDS9NV1
— Lane Kiffin (@Lane_Kiffin) October 13, 2020
The New Orleans Saints have not received clearance from Mayor LaToya Cantrell to host large numbers of fans for home games at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome amid the COVID-19 pandemic, so they’ve begun looking into a temporary move to LSU’s Tiger Stadium, where a crowd as strong as 25,000 could join them.
Just 15 NFL teams have been allowed to welcome spectators — less than half the league, and none of the approved venues have a fixed roof like the Superdome. The mayor’s office isn’t keen on becoming the first to break that trend.
And while negotiations with LSU are ongoing, the Saints do have other options. Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin reminded them of that from his official Twitter account, maybe-joking that his school’s Vaught Hemingway Stadium is available on Sundays.
For what it’s worth, Ole Miss has just as many 24-hour game conflicts with the Saints home schedule as LSU: Oct. 24 vs. Auburn and Nov. 14 vs. South Carolina, days before the Saints will play on Oct. 25 vs. the Carolina Panthers and Nov. 15 vs. the San Francisco 49ers.
So the only difference would be longer travel time: 76 minutes’ drive from New Orleans to Baton Rouge, La. against 5 hours on the road to Oxford, Miss.
Maybe the Saints will move to Tiger Stadium after their bye week. Maybe they’ll remain at the Superdome. We’ll find out in the days ahead, but it doesn’t appear Kiffin’s recruiting pitch resonated.
