It’s safe to say the New Orleans Saints love Paris just as much as Paris loves the Saints.
The team sent a goodwill contingent to Paris on March 25-27 – including team owner Gayle Benson, quarterback Tyler Shough and right tackle Taliese Fuaga — in advance of the Saints playing the first ever NFL game in France during the 2026 season. New Orleans has been granted exclusive international marketing rights to France.
“It was unbelievable,” Shough said. “Just to see the amount of Saints fans, the outreach there, the passion for American football that they have in France. I think that connection of being a sister city of New Orleans, just the French influence, it was really cool to kind of be an ambassador. I think we want to be there, we want to play in France for years to come.
“In America, you think of Paris and France as this different world. Unreachable — you just see it. And then to actually be there around the people — their familiarity with our team and what we do, it makes you want to continue to grow it. The amount of relationships that were built there in a short amount of time is really encouraging, because we want to expand our outreach in New Orleans and show what the Saints have to offer.”
The trip was especially fulfilling for Fuaga.
“It was dope. Dope as heck,” he said. “That’s my first time out of the country. That’s a tough one to beat because a lot of people dream of going to Paris. The food was good, me and Tyler were just doing our thing out there. We got to see the Mona Lisa, which was dope, everybody wants to see that. The historic things there. It’s cool to see people that know about the connection between us and them.”