As Jaguars Travel to Houston, Saints and Packers Will Play in Jacksonville Due to Ida

The New Orleans Saints and the Green Bay Packers will play their Week 1 game at TIAA Bank Field in Jacksonville, the NFL announced today. The Jacksonville Jaguars will be on the road, facing the Houston Texans in Texas that weekend.

The Saints are in a state of flux, having evacuated from New Orleans and their Metairie campus, due to Hurricane Ida. The Category 4 storm made landfall on Sunday, August 29, the 16th anniversary of the deadly Hurricane Katrina.

In a Wednesday afternoon release, the NFL stated:

"The game will remain a 4:25 p.m. ET start and be broadcast on FOX.

"The decision was made, in consultation with state and local officials and both clubs, in the interest of public safety.

"Details on tickets and other specifics, including how fans can continue to help in the recovery effort, will be announced in the days ahead.

The Saints moved operations to the Dallas-Fort Worth area in anticipation of the storm, practicing at AT&T Stadium on Monday and Tuesday, home of the Dallas Cowboys. They plan on using TCU's facilities to prepare for the Packers game. The Cowboys do not play a home game until September 27 in Week 3.

The stadiums/facilities that the Saints would normally use are accounted for, with the Texans playing at home against the Jags; the Cowboys stadium is hosting a concert later in the week, and requiring Sunday for set-up. Atlanta's Mercedes-Benz Stadium is hosting an Atlanta Falcons home game on September 12th and both Carolina's Bank of America Stadium and Tennessee's Nissan Stadium are playing home to the Panthers and Titans respectively.

So the Saints will count Jacksonville as their home, at least in Week 1. New Orleans has away games in Week 2 (Carolina Panthers) and Week 3 (New England Patriots). As of now, they are scheduled to host a home game in Week 4, on October 3, versus the New York Giants.

The Jaguars have a home game at TIAA Bank Field in Week 2 (Denver Broncos) and Week 3 (Arizona Cardinals). They play a Thursday night game in Cincinnati against the Bengals on September 30, meaning the Sunday of Week 4 (October 3) would be available should the Saints need it again.

Much of New Orleans and surrounding areas still find themselves without power following Ida's landfall. Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards called the destruction to the power grid "catastrophic." Aerial footage of the city showed transformers and power lines in the Mississippi River.

“There are certainly more questions than answers. I can’t tell you when the power is going to be restored. I can’t tell you when all the debris is going to be cleaned up and repairs made,” Edwards told a news conference. “But what I can tell you is we are going to work hard every day to deliver as much assistance as we can.”

While the Superdome—which sits just off the river and in downtown New Orleans—didn't sustain any structural damage, Saints head coach Sean Payton told reporters on Tuesday, according to The Times-Picayune | New Orleans Advocate, "that the team wouldn't return to New Orleans until power had been restored to most of the city, reiterating that he didn't want to bring the team back with New Orleans still in the dark."