New Orleans Saints
The New Orleans Saints are a National Football League team based in New Orleans, Louisiana.
- First Season: 1967 as an NFL expansion team
- Home stadium: Louisiana Superdome, New Orleans, Louisiana
- Uniform colors: Black, Old gold, and White
- Helmet design: Gold helmet with a black fleur-de-lis
- League championships won: none
Franchise history
New Orleans was granted an NFL franchise on 1 November, 1966. John W. Mecom, Jr. became the majority stockholder, and the team was named the Saints on 9 January 1967. Despite a 94 yard opening kickoff return for a touchdown by John Gilliam, the Saints lost their first game 27-13 to the Los Angeles Rams. Their first season record was 3-11.
In 1980, the Saints lost their first 14 games, prompting fans to design paper bags to wear over their heads to the team's home games; the bags rendered the club's name as the "'Aints" rather than the "Saints," and this practice then spread rapidly, first to fans of other poorly-performing teams within the NFL, and ultimately to those of other American team sports as well, and has become a firmly-established custom throughout the United States.
Current Saints owner Tom Benson acquired the franchise in 1985, and hired Jim Finks as general manager and Jim Mora as head coach. That combination provided the Saints with their first ever winning record, 12-3 in 1987.
Current coach Jim Haslett has held the post since 2000, in which year he took the team to the playoffs but lost to the Minnesota Vikings a week after besting the St. Louis Rams for the team's first ever playoff win. The Saints failed to make the playoffs in 2001 and 2002, although in the latter year they had the distinction of beating the eventual Super Bowl XXXVII winners Tampa Bay in both their regular season matches.
Players of note
Current stars:
Retired numbers:
