If I get a job around here after graduation, I will be one of those season ticket holders next year
Season ticket sales for Saints going 'awesome' Associated Press click this
NEW ORLEANS -- Without the team running a single advertisement, renewals for New Orleans Saints season tickets are nearly four times what they were a year ago.
Between 20,000 and 25,000 ticket holders have made deposits for 2006, when the Saints are expected to return to New Orleans following a vagabond season in San Antonio and Baton Rouge.
"Awesome," said Rita Benson LeBlanc, the team's executive vice president of administration. "Our invoices have just gone out, so we're really ahead of what would be a normal schedule."
Part of the surge has been the result of many ticket holders having money remaining in their accounts because of the cancellation of the New Orleans games last season, the team said.
Other interest, the team said, is likely being generated by the offering of more than 20,000 seats at $35 or less. This year's package consists of eight games instead of nine or 10 because home exhibition games will be played at other venues around the state.
Team officials also pointed to the hiring of new coach Sean Payton and the fact the Saints have the second pick in the NFL draft.
The Saints' first home game at the renovated and repaired Superdome is tentatively scheduled for Sept. 24, though the NFL has said the date could be adjusted for national television. The complete schedule will be announced in the coming weeks.
"This is one of the most exciting offseasons we've had in a while," Benson LeBlanc said.
The team's chief financial officer, Dennis Lauscha, said the Saints revamped the ticket office immediately upon returning to the city.
"We came back and ramped up immediately. They hit the ground calling. And we've been in full force making phone calls," Lauscha said. "That's 15 people making outbound calls all day, both on the suite side and the ticket side. That has more to do with it than anything."
bad attendance just showed last season due to the fact that people simply had other problems to deal with b/c of the hurricane...
now that everything is getting back to normal and our people can return to normal life, here we come again..win or no win...
i just only hope that benson doesnt get overconfident that since hes making some ticket sales now, that he doesnt have to go spend money on free agents, etc to keep the fans happy..we'll always show up for games, but if he realizes the potential from his fans if he puts a winning organization in place, the support would be tremendous...
just look at the lsu program, huge support for that team b/c people around heres lives revolve around football and if there is a winning product on the field, the fans will come and support...lsu stadium holds over 90,000 and its almost always a sell-out
True fans of any sports organization show support win or lose. Your reasoning for supporting the Saints is exactly why Benson wants to leave. Just letting you know!!
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tcpain wrote:True fans of any sports organization show support win or lose. Your reasoning for supporting the Saints is exactly why Benson wants to leave. Just letting you know!!
Am I missing something?
Louisianacajunsam stated that he'd support the Saints win or lose.
just look at the lsu program, huge support for that team b/c people around heres lives revolve around football and if there is a winning product on the field, the fans will come and support...lsu stadium holds over 90,000 and its almost always a sell-out
Well... the only problem with that analogy is that LSU is a college and graduates 30K of future fans every single year.
I don't know if Happy Valley, PA even has a population of over 100K, but Nittany Lion Alumni now need to inherit or scalper-buy or luck into season tickets to go to PSU's home games.
If the reports of New Orleans population mix changing due to Katrina are correct... maybe the support for the Saints will grow?... or maybe lessen in favor of some pro Soccer team?
Time will tell... but possibly, the potential for filled stadiums are now the same in New Orleans as they would be in San Antonio???
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yea i dont understand what that one poster was trying to say..i do and always have followed and supported the saints my whole life so i guess that means that i would follow them winning or losing b/c we've always lost....
college argument doesnt mean that much..you're right..but lsu does have great support..and even the university i played for, university of louisiana-lafayette had the third highest attendance in the nation for mid-majors and we were 6-5 this season...that was also our first winning season in ten years, since delhomme and stokley were playin here and that shows that winning product can greatly increase revenue, especially if its a traditional loser, much like the saints..
so what my point is, is in this part of the country, i know most people live sleep football..a winning team would do wonders for the economy, not to mention benson....
i see no evidence that san antonio would support the saints as louisianans have, even if they lose consistently for forty years...our economy is picking up....if you want to refer to last season, san antonio got thousands of free tickets and discounted prices on tickets where, louisianans didnt..thats a fact...plus it was the trendy new thing in texas, whereas in louisiana, people had plenty of other things to worry about...
it will be different here now..last season was obviously a fluke for the bad ticket sales here
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by mikus » Fri Mar 03, 2006 12:16 pm 
