New Orleans Marches On With Superdome Repairs

Benson said in an open letter to Saints fans published this week that "the Superdome has suffered damage that may keep it offline indefinitely." The owner of another NFL team said the league still hears rumblings that the dome will have to be torn down. But Thornton said the repairs, estimated to cost between $125 million and $200 million, could be completed as soon as mid-October next year.

Tons of debris and garbage left behind by Katrina evacuees were hauled away. Workers should finish sealing the roof by spraying on the polyurethane foam next week, Thornton said. A final cleanup of the interior, including the removal of damaged carpeting and drywall and a thorough scrubbing of food-service areas, is slated to be completed late next month.

Thornton said he hopes to have a report by the end of November from Ellerbe Becket, the architectural firm hired to make a complete assessment of damage to the building and what it will cost for repairs. All or virtually all of the repair costs, Thornton said, should be covered by insurance money and federal funds.

Thornton said state officials must decide whether to make an additional $175 million in previously planned upgrades to the dome at the same time they make the repairs. The improvements could include adding seats to the lower bowl, widening concourses, moving up the press box and replacing it with luxury suites, and building two "French Corner" towers -- suites stacked in two corners of the stadium with French Quarter-style latticework for local flavor.

The state had proposed the upgrades in lease negotiations with the Saints and was going to pay for them through a hotel tax. According to Tim Coulon, the state's point man in negotiations with the Saints as the chairman of the Louisiana Stadium and Exposition District, the team was receptive about a year ago to the proposal. But then Benson changed his mind, Coulon said, and maintained that the club could be competitive only with a new stadium. Benson pitched his proposal to Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco (D), and the state was formulating its formal response.

"Katrina responded for us," Coulon said, adding later, "Where we find ourselves now is, it is unlikely we would build a new stadium."

The upgrades to the Superdome remain a possibility, said Thornton, though he acknowledged: "The questions there become: Where's the money going to come from and how much time is it going to take?"

Coulon and Thornton said the plan is to repair the dome even if the Saints don't return. The dome was the site of about 115 events annually that didn't involve the Saints, Thornton said, including high school and college football games and a series of consumer shows each spring.

"It's been the anchor, along with the convention center, for our tourism industry and has been the catalyst for growth in the hotel market and the hospitality industry for many years, since 1975," Thornton said. "Our economy in this region is largely based and centered around tourism and convention activity, special-event activity. In that respect, the Superdome is a vital part of that economy. And the sooner we can get it back up and running, the more money it's going to generate for the city.

"Hopefully we'll be able to get a determination from the Saints and the NFL here in the next couple of months as to what the long-term vision is for the team in this market . . . but we have to take steps right now to repair that building, for obvious reasons. It's got to be put back in commerce, not just for the Saints but for other users that are so critical to the economy here."

Scalise said: "We've got to rebuild our infrastructure so that we can still generate revenue [and] we can still have jobs. There are a lot of people who, even if their houses were not destroyed by Katrina, they can't come back until they have jobs to come back to. So we have to maintain an economy in the New Orleans area. Some of our infrastructure, like the Superdome, needs to be restored. There was insurance, and FEMA has provided to pick up some of the costs of rebuilding. It's not like it's going to be taking away from our other resources. We're going to be rebuilding our port, too, because our port generates a lot of money. We can't just say, 'Let's ignore everything.' We've got to bring our economy back or else people aren't going to come back."

SOS: Save Our Saints

Jay Foster has been a Saints season ticket holder for six years. The attorney said it takes him precisely 69 minutes to drive from his home in St. Martin, Miss., to his parking spot at the Superdome. When the cell phone used by Saints wide receiver Joe Horn for a notorious touchdown celebration during a game in 2003 (Horn stashed the phone under the padding on a goal post, then pulled it out and pretended to make a call after a scoring catch) was made available in a charity auction, Foster bought it for $645.