ON SUNDAY, the New Orleans Saints play their first game back in Louisiana since the floods that devastated their city after Hurricane Katrina, but the long-term future of the team remains unsettled.

On Wednesday, four days before the team was due to play the Miami Dolphins at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, Tom Benson, the owner, wrote an open letter to fans intended to calm fears about possible relocation, but it stopped short of declaring that the Saints would ever return to the Big Easy.

Even before the hurricane, there were rumours that both San Antonio, Texas, where the team has been based since the beginning of the season, and Los Angeles were keen to lure the Saints away, and The Washington Post reported yesterday that Los Angeles remains a destination favoured by the NFL.

Benson appears to be hedging his bets. “No decision has been made about the future of the team, because no decision has been made about the future of New Orleans,” he said. “It is our desire to be at the table during the rebuilding of our city. However, there are many factors that will affect the future of our team, the same factors that will affect other companies when faced with the decision to return to New Orleans. But my desire is to return.”

However, that desire will be complicated, to say the least, by the condition of the Louisiana Superdome, the team’s stadium, which was used as a shelter for refugees and suffered damage during and after the hurricane that, he said, could “keep it offline indefinitely”. A stadium would be part of any offer from rival cities, which New Orleans would be unable to match for years. “I understand that the thought and discussion of the Saints not returning is a subject that will garner the most intense scrutiny of the public and media,” Benson added. “In fact, many New Orleans businesses have either moved, permanently closed or are dramatically downsizing because of this tragic event.

“We did not fold, we did not suspend, we did not downsize. We have continued to operate and represent the city and fans of New Orleans. When the time is right and the factors that are as yet unresolved are resolved, a decision on the future of the team will be made.”

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