Feb. 24, 2026, 2:44 p.m. CT
New Orleans Saints fans eager to see Drew Brees be inducted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame shouldn’t get their hopes up about seeing their team play a preseason game at the stadium named for their old owner. The first game of the NFL preseason is always played at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium in honor of the year’s inaugural class, and on paper, the Saints have been seen as a natural fit. Beyond tying Brees a little closer to the team that he made famous (step off, Chargers fans) it’s an opportunity for Kellen Moore and his coaching staff to start training camp a little sooner and spend more time developing their roster. When the NFL cut down the preseason from four games to just three, a lot of guys on the roster bubble lost out. This is their chance to put more plays on tape and help their evaluations.
However, the Times-Picayune’s Jeff Duncan observed that the Saints already have a busy travel schedule this summer. New Orleans is expected to play two preseason road games (with a third exhibition game at home in the Caesars Superdome) and travel to California for another week of training camp, as they’ve done in recent years. Chartering flights for a 90-man roster, coaching staff, support personnel and front office executives isn’t cheap. The logistics of moving all the equipment and supplies they need can be challenging. That’s all true.
It’s also true that the Saints have been giving their fans the short end of the stick in recent years. They’re moving a second home game overseas in five years by going to France in 2026. They haven’t put the same effort the Los Angeles Rams did in admitting fans to training camp practices at UC Irvine, which included a full month of practices in 2024 and a week of work last summer. For Saints fans in Ohio (and those making the trip from all around the NFL-watching world) their only other chance to see the team is on expensive out-of-market streaming packages. Even if it’s backups like Spencer Rattler and Devin Neal in the huddle instead of Tyler Shough and Alvin Kamara, they deserve a chance to see their favorite team in person.
So it would be disappointing to see the Saints pass on the chance to play an exhibition game in front of their most faithful fans at an occasion honoring the greatest player in franchise history, and with a bronze statue of the late Benson watching on. But it wouldn’t be surprising. Whatever ends up happening with the Hall of Fame game in August, let’s hope the Saints are winning so many games in December and January that we’ve forgotten all about it.
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