May 17th 2008 9:12PM by Michael David Smith (author feed)
Filed under: Saints, Super Bowl, New OrleansNew Orleans city officials would love to host the Super Bowl. Saints officials would love to see the Super Bowl played in their home stadium. The NFL would love to award a Super Bowl to New Orleans as a gesture toward a downtrodden city. Past Super Bowls in New Orleans have gone over well. Everyone agrees that New Orleans should get a Super Bowl.

So that would seem to indicate that the Super Bowl should go to New Orleans soon. But it won’t until 2013 at the earliest, and even then it’s looking like a long shot, as the Saints’ lease with the Superdome would first need to get worked out. Jimmy Smith of the Times Picayune has the Saints’ explanation:
“New Orleans intends to bid on the 2013 Super Bowl,” Vice President of Communications Greg Bensel wrote in the e-mail. “Per NFL Super Bowl bid policy, there must exist a lease for the host team. We did explore extending our lease with the intent to bid for the 2012 Super Bowl.”
Right now the Saints’ lease with the State of Louisiana, which operates the Superdome, expires in 2010. If a new agreement can’t be reached to extend that lease soon, New Orleans won’t get the Super Bowl, even if everyone thinks it should.