Saints should stay home in state-sponsored facilities

The more I think about it, the more I arrive at this conclusion: this summer, the New Orleans Saints should be training in Louisiana.

The Greenbrier in West Virginia sounds like a great place.
The climate is temperate. The resort is posh.

But, in the meantime, flash back to the summer of 2001.

The Saints were in their second summer of training camp at Nicholls State in Thibodaux. It was a very rainy summer, rainier than most.

The Saints were often forced inside to the gym on campus to conduct workouts. Coach Jim Haslett and then-general manager Randy Mueller lobbied for an indoor practice facility on the Saints campus in Metairie.

Two years later, that practice facility was up and running, paid for by the taxpayers of the state of Louisiana.

The state of Louisiana has been very good to Tom Benson and the New Orleans Saints. The new training facility opened in 1996, paid for by the state.

A new lease for the Saints now runs through 2025. As part of the deal, the Saints receive approximately $392 million in state subsidies.

What Tom Benson should have done is tell head coach Sean Payton and general manager Mickey Loomis that the Saints will hold summer camp in New Orleans.

Having training camp at home seems to work well for the rest of the NFL. In 2013, 30 of 32 teams practiced in their home state, most at their own training facility.

Does conducting camp at a remote location pay dividends? The results are, mixed.

In 2000, the Saints credited the hard work in Thibodaux as the launching pad to a division championship and a playoff win over the Rams.

One year later, the Saints won at Buffalo in the 2001 season opener. It was unseasonably hot in Buffalo. In a post-game interview, defensive tackle Norman Hand said, “We are used to this stuff. We train in it.” The Saints finished that season 7-9.

In 2006, Sean Payton relocated the Saints camp to Millsaps College in Jackson, Miss.

As the Saints won the NFC South and reached their first conference championship game, Millsaps was showered with praise as a training camp site. There was no such praise in 2007, and 2008 when the Saints missed the playoffs.

In 2009, the Saints came home and won the Super Bowl.

So, no knock on West Virginia. Sounds like a great place for a training camp. But, the training camp of the Saints should be in Louisiana, alongside the taxpayers who pay the freight.

Ed Daniels is sports director of ABC26 WGNO. He can be reached at edaniels@clarionherald.org.