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UPDATE: Doug Thornton, a spokesperson for the management company that runs the Superdome, announced the stadium “appears” to not have suffered any major structural damage from Hurricane Ida. Thornton said he has “provided updates on the stadium to Saints president Dennis Laucha and expects to have conversations with Saints and NFL officials in the days ahead to determine if the game can be played at the Superdome.”
The Caesars Superdome appears to have survived Hurricane Ida without any major structural damage, according to Doug Thornton, the vice president of stadiums for ASM Global, which manages the stadium for the state.
Hurricane Ida made landfall as a Category 4 storm on Sunday, causing severe damage throughout southeast Louisiana and leaving the entire city of New Orleans without power.
As a result, New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton shared on Monday that he’s unsure whether the team’s Week 1 opener against the New Orleans Saints can even be played at the Superdome.
Payton on Week 1: "We don't know relative on Week 1 in the Superdome. ... We'll have a Plan B. There's a lot of things from a priority standpoint that are more important to our city."
— Nick Underhill (@nick_underhill) August 30, 2021
The Saints were forced to cancel their scheduled preseason finale against the Arizona Cardinals on Saturday due to the impending storm. The team’s players and coaches have since evacuated to Dallas where they are practicing at AT&T Stadium for the time being.
The season opener against the Packers is currently set to kick off in the Superdome at 4:35 p.m. ET on Sunday, September 12. Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk mentioned that should the Superdome not be ready in time for the contest, the NFL will most likely move it to a neutral field. The only other home game the Saints have scheduled within the first six weeks of the regular season is an October 3 matchup with the New York Giants.