It’s a good day to be a Horned Frog. On Wednesday, the New Orleans Saints announced their agreement with Texas Christian University (TCU) to temporarily hold practices as well as strength and conditioning sessions in Fort Worth while New Orleans continues to recover from the impact of Hurricane Ida, confirming multiple earlier reports from NBC Sports’ Charean Williams and ESPN’s Mike Triplett, among others.
Saints coach Sean Payton previously suggested TCU and nearby SMU as potential options, pointing to the ease of access to facilities for a college team compared to a rival NFL squad. This also means the Saints can remain in the Dallas-Fort Worth area after holding several practices at the Cowboys’ AT&T Stadium this week.
It also means that the Saints will be road warriors early this season. Their first regular season game has been moved from New Orleans to the Jacksonville Jaguars’ TIAA Bank Field, where they will kick off against the Green Bay Packers on Sept. 12. From there the Saints are scheduled to play road games in Weeks 2, 3, 5, and 7, with a Week 4 home game with the New York Giants and an early bye in Week 6. Hopefully they can return to New Orleans sooner rather than later.
