New Orleans Rebirth

New Orleans Saints’ owner Tom Benson has done little to endear himself to the vast number of fans loyal to his team.

He has always been less than willing to spend the needed funds on players, coaches and front office personnel to turn the Saints into a winning franchise. In addition, he extorts tax dollars from the state of Louisiana every year by threatening to relocate his team. (Never mind that Louisiana is the only state that pays one of its sports franchises.)

And of course, let us not forget the way he attempted to abandon the state last year following Hurricane Katrina. His threats of permanently moving to San Antonio were only squashed by NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue.

Yes, Benson has never given the fans much of anything to cherish. No Super Bowls, no legacies (aside from the play of Archie Manning) and pretty much nothing but poor play on the field, one or two seasons aside.

But the fans keep coming back. They love their Saints.

That is why it is a good move by the struggling franchise to play a nationally televised preseason game in Shreveport this August.

“We’ve always valued the support we receive in Shreveport and wanted to put this game in the n

The New Orleans Saints signed wide receiver Chris Horn to a two-year contract and re-signed defensive tackle Cedric Woodard to a one-year deal Thursday.

Horn has mostly been a reserve in three seasons with the Kansas City Chiefs. He had 18 catches for 187 yards last season in 14 games with three starts.

He also was fourth on the club in special teams tackles with 16.

In his NFL career, he has 33 receptions for 365 yards with one touchdown.

Woodard was picked up by the Saints last season after spending his first five seasons with the Seattle Seahawks. He was signed for the final five games of 2005 by New Orleans, but listed as inactive for every game.

The New Orleans Saints and Dallas Cowboys’ preseason game at Independence Stadium on Aug. 21 will be a rare treat for local football fans — the opportunity to see an NFL game in their backyard.

Shreveport officials offered Independence Stadium to the Saints for their regular-season games shortly after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans and the Saints’ home, the Superdome. The Saints ended up playing their regular-season games in San Antonio and Baton Rouge, but Shreveport’s courting and hard work — much from Mayor Keith Hightower and his CAO Ken Antee — didn’t go unnoticed.

ESPN will televise the game on the prime sporting institution for the last 35 years, Monday Night Football. There are some NFL markets that haven’t been on Monday Night Football in years and would jump at the chance for a preseason game.

"Let’s make Shreveport the showcase worldwide on ESPN and Monday Night Football," Mayor Keith Hightower said in announcing the PR opportunity. "What more can we ask for?"

Indeed, this is a prime(time) vehicle for the city to show its progress. A sellout of Independence Stadium is needed to maximize the energy potential communicated to the television audience — to make the event more telegenic than pockets of empty seats would — and hopefully it won’t take much cajoling to do it.

Major professional sports teams have visited Shreveport and Bossier City previously, but none will do for the area what the NFL will do with one game. The San Francisco Giants faced their Double-A farm team the Shreveport Captains in exhibition games at Fair Grounds Field in 1989 and 1992. Most recently, the New Orleans Hornets played an exhibition game against the NBA champion San Antonio Spurs at the CenturyTel Center in October. Even the NHL stopped in Bossier City when the Atlanta Thrashers played the Nashville Predators for an exhibition game in 2002.

The Saints certainly could use some goodwill in this corner of the state. From a state policy standpoint, many Louisianans north of Interstate 10 resent the millions in state dollars committed to keeping owner Tom Benson appeased and in New Orleans as he flirted with a dash to San Antonio or Los Angeles. From a fan base, the Saints always have had trouble wresting attention away from the more successful franchise in Dallas, which has long claimed widespread local support.

Said Benson when the game was formally announced, "This is the start of the rebuilding of a program that’s very important to our state … It’s important that this is successful to show the country that Louisiana is back."

Northwest Louisiana continues to carve out a national image that this is part of Louisiana that is fully operational. Consider the publicity that is already being generated by the filming of TV shows and feature length movies in the area. The first out of the box was this week’s premier of the FX show "Thief," in which Shreveport doubles for New Orleans.

About a week shy of the anniversary of Katrina’s landfall, the Saints-Cowboys tilt will help tell a nation Louisiana is bouncing back and that Shreveport is not a battered Gulf locale but an inland point of prosperity and promise — an exciting place to live, work and play.