I was telling my co workers all year we weren’t going to the Super Bowl in the 2018 season, not cause I was hating, heavens no! (Black & gold forever)
My theory was that the NFL is a BUSINESS FIRST, and the SB that season was in ATLANTA. Which means:
the airlines wouldn’t have made money off of us (majority of New Orleanians would have just drove the 6-7 hrs)
The hotel industry wouldn’t have made much off of us either as most of us have a friend, relative, friend of a relative etc etc who lives in Atlanta
Lastly, Saints v Falcons rivalry is arguably the biggest in the NFL and having all of us in their city playing for a SB on their field? Would have been bad in more ways than 1.
But please tell me what your personal theory has always been👀
38 comments
It has absolutely nothing to do with the location of the Super Bowl and everything to do with targeting the LA market which is traditionally a basketball city
My theory is that the rams recently moved to LA and they had poor fan attendance & interest. LA is a massive market and clearly much better for the league in a Super Bowl than the saints. Roger made the call and the rams put up 3 points in the Super Bowl😂😂😂
My theory has always been that Roger Goodell built that $5.5 billion stadium in LA for 2 franchises that had no fans. What better way to crank up the ol’ bandwagon than to have the Rams in the Super Bowl. He also fucking hates Sean Payton, so he got a twofer: Screw the Saints and put the Rams in the Super Bowl.
My theory is the game should of been over in the first half but the Saints settled for FGs and got burned by a Lambs fake punt in Lambs territory midway through the 2nd Q with the Saints already up 13-0.
Say what you want about the refs and Super Bowl in LA, but that player either takes a chance and gets a penalty or loses the game.
Of course the refs should have called it but we also had a chance to stop them and we couldn’t convert our next drive
My theory is the ref that should have thrown the flag was a former viking and was biased
Louisiana population: 4.5 million
Greater Los Angeles population: 18.7 million
The NFL was playing the long game and following the money.
The saints lost. It was a shitty call. It sucks.
I’d agree with that theory if Tampa didn’t get a home game Super Bowl only two years later. I think the spending power of New Orleans fans isn’t a huge factor in their eyes, simply due to volume. Hotels and flights or not, we are a (relatively) small bunch.
As others have said, it 100% had more to do with building interest in the LA NFL market. Boatloads of unrealized money not being spent on the team they moved out there and built a flashy stadium for.
This is not the first time I heard this theory. Not even the 100th time. And I’ve also heard the one about priming the LA market with a SB appearance.
My theory is much simpler – stupid people so stupid things and their coworkers (the other refs) back them up because they’ve done stupid shit in the past. It’s a common unspoken pact in rotten cultures – if you don’t hold me accountable, I won’t hold you accountable.
And the NFL is a rotten culture that just happens to play our favorite game.
Delete your account
NFL wanted an east coast-west coast game to generate the most eye balls watching. The Saints stole SB44 because Godell didn’t expect them to beat the mighty Peyton Manning, so he didn’t prep the zebras. He didn’t want a repeat of Saints winning in Feb 2019
No real saints fan has friends or relatives in Atlanta
$$$$$$$$
you nailed it.
brand new LA market or tiny NO market.
it was a pure financial decision.
This is only my first season watching ball, so forgive my ignorance, but does it not boil down to us just losing to the Rams on points?
My theory is that the ref staring right at the PI is a moron.
NFL doesn’t care about airline sales and hotel sales. They care about the tv contracts and New Orleans just has a much smaller national appeal.
Also saints and falcons is definitely not the biggest rivalry in the league and nfl could not care less who’s playing on the field as long as it’s a marketable game
Went to the damn movies during that Super Bowl and saw The Mule. I didn’t miss much.
I think the timeline changes massively if they won that Super Bowl. Drew would have had every reason to retire and we could have had a fresh rebuild much sooner.
My theory is the game was the final penance for bounty gate.
My theory is that the officiating was terrible for both teams. (No call facemask against Goff, almost guaranteed a tuddy).
Game went to OT. Saints lost.
Why do people feel the need to keep posting this picture? It sucks, we got hosed, Payton is in Denver. Let’s move on.
my theory is yall need to let this go
My theory is to let this go. It won’t do you any good to ruminate on this shit for 7+ years
Plenty of other teams have played Super Bowls in rivals’ stadiums so it wasn’t that.
https://www.reddit.com/r/nfl/s/Svb0lA7EXS
My theory: ref fucked up and totally missed the play like the blind idiot he is and the head ref did nothing to mend one of the biggest mistakes in NFL reffing history. People are human. Refs are morons. Mistakes happen but it doesn’t help that LA is such a large market while NOLA is bottom five smallest.
We should have made more touchdowns and less FGs in that game too
People that think it’s rigged are just superstitious or playing in to confirmation bias. It was a horrible call made by a moron. Not much more than that
I feel like the NFL would love a Brees vs Brady Super tho..
After this game I cried like a stupid baby. Puked from loads of alcohol (reason for crying like a bitch). Showed my ass and I’m proud to say I’m glad I don’t give a fuck like that anymore. How embarrassing. At least my friends have good material for jokes now
I think it boils down to the relationship between Goodell and Payton. They hate each other. Denver will have the exact same type of thing happen if they get close with Payton at the helm. They didn’t like each other pre-BountyGate, and that whole situation did nothing but exacerbate the problem.
I don’t think that it would have been “better for the league” to have LA there. A Brees v Brady Super Bowl would’ve broken viewership records.
I don’t think it had anything to do with it being in Atlanta. Most people who can afford SB tickets aren’t driving just cause it’s close or staying at someone’s house just cause it’s not too far away and they know people. The people who can afford those tickets are flying and getting hotel rooms.
I don’t think it was for the LA market. You’re not making more football fans in LA. There were already plenty of them. They just didn’t have a local team for a while, and the stadiums the teams were playing in kinda sucked before SoFi so of course they didn’t sell tickets. As soon as SoFi opened they were selling plenty of tickets.
My theory is that ref sucked.
So how does this theory take into account the Rams winning a Super Bowl in their home stadium?
My theory is if you’re gonna cry about a missed call from 7 years ago you might as well buy a Raiders jersey.
DAT WAS SOME TRUE (F…ERY)fill in the dots. GEAUX SAINTS
I thought it was Goodell’s way of punishment for Bountygate. Never let Brees and Payton win another ring together.
Follow the Dollar, it’s the American way!