DALLAS, TX (WSAU) — The Green Bay Packers season opener against the New Orleans Saints has been moved to TIAA Bank Field in Jacksonville, FL.
The move comes after Hurricane Ida left the city of New Orleans with significant damage, including a widespread power outage that is expected to last for weeks.
Saints players and coaches evacuated to Dallas before the storm made landfall. Since Monday, Head Coach Sean Peyton has made it known that the game likely can’t be played in the Caesars Superdome and that he didn’t want the game moved to Green Bay to give the Packers a home-field advantage.
Other venues considered included all NFL stadiums east of Dallas that were not hosting games on September 12th such as US Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, and Soldier Field in Chicago. Reliant Stadium in Houston was out of the question, as the Texans are hosting the Jacksonville Jaguars that week in their opener. The Dallas Cowboys are playing the season kick-off game next Thursday in Tampa against the Super Bowl Champion Buccaneers, however, AT&T stadium is unavailable that Sunday because the venue needs to prepare for a mid-week concert.
Jacksonville represented the next-closest option.
The Saints had used the Alamodome in San Antonio and LSU’s Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge as temporary home venues in 2005 following Hurricane Katrina, but the NFL said the game must be played in one of the league’s 30 venues.
The last time the Packers played at TIAA Bank Stadium in Jacksonville, affectionately known to fans as Duval, was the 2016 season opener against the Jaguars. Green Bay won that game 27-23. Details on how ticketing for the game will be handled will be announced in the next few days, and will likely include some sort of donation to cleanup efforts in the big easy.
The game is still scheduled to kick off at 3:25 CT, meaning pregame coverage on September 12th will begin at 1 PM on WSAU.
Comments