Jan. 7, 2026, 10:24 a.m. CT

New Orleans Saints owner Gayle Benson secured some big-time commitments from NFL commissioner Roger Goodell in high-level meetings this week in New York, per the Times-Picayune’s Jeff Duncan. Accompanied by Louisiana governor Jeff Landry, Benson won an invitation for New Orleans to bid on hosting the 2031 Super Bowl. New Orleans missed the deadline back in September while fine-tuning a new lease with the Caesars Superdome. That deal was signed in November, and Goodell was convinced to let the bid go through after all.

It might be the last time the Super Bowl could kick off at the Superdome with the Saints still playing there. The Saints’ lease runs through 2035 and is structured with a series of five-year options to keep them there through 2055. Duncan adds that New Orleans is targeting the 2031 Super Bowl “because conflicts with Mardi Gras and convention schedules would likely prevent the city from hosting Super Bowls between 2032 and 2037, leaving 2038 as the next possible target year if 2031 stays off the table.” If push comes to shove and the Saints decline their option in 2036 in favor of building a new stadium somewhere else, that would likely be the end of the line for Super Bowl games at the Superdome.

And that would be a shame. The Superdome has hosted more Super Bowls than any other stadium (8 of them), and with several storied venues planning to close their doors in the next few years, soon only the Green Bay Packers‘ Lambeau Field will be the oldest continuously-used NFL home field. Last year, New Orleans tied Miami for the most Super Bowls hosted (11), and city officials are eager to break that record. Here are the confirmed future host sites, with more to come at NFL owners meetings later this year:

2026: Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif.2027: SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif.2028: Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta

Allegiant Stadium (Las Vegas) is a rumored frontrunner for 2029, and the Tennessee Titans’ new Nissan Stadium (Nashville) was partly built in hopes of winning a Super Bowl bid by 2030, with construction scheduled for completion in 2027. It won’t be easy for New Orleans to beat those bids but they’ve done it before.

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They know the clock is ticking. Duncan also shared that Benson and Landry laid out plans for expanding Louis Armstrong International Airport and “nearly $1 billion in hotel investment” aimed at luxury accommodations and amenities, which NFL officials found lacking after last year’s title game. In a separate meeting with Adam Silver, the NBA commissioner, plans were detailed on renovating the Smoothie King Center and developing nearby Champions Square “into a sports and entertainment complex” by repurposing an old shopping mall and parking garage.

This is the work that goes into keeping the Saints in New Orleans. Benson and the members of the Louisiana Stadium and Exposition District have put in a lot of resources to keep things trending in the right direction. Hopefully it results in real benefits for the city’s hospitality industry.