How many more years will the Saints play at the Superdome?

News broke last week that the Kansas City Chiefs will be relocating their home stadium across town, and state lines, by 2031, ending a historic run at Arrowhead Stadium in Jackson County, Missouri. Instead, the Chiefs will be playing in Wyandotte County, Kansas. Arrowhead Stadium earned a reputation as one of the NFL's oldest and most storied venues, having opened its doors back in 1972. Soon, though, that story will draw to a close.

That's also the case for the Chicago Bears. The Bears have called Soldier Field home since 1924, making it the longest-used stadium in the NFL, but they've begun exploring plans to build a new home field outside the city, and potentially outside the state of Illinois. With the Buffalo Bills preparing to move out of their "old" Highmark Stadium and across the street to their "new" Highmark Stadium next summer another one of the NFL's most venerable arenas will be shuttered.

Advertisement

If all three of these teams follow through on their plans to move into new stadiums, only one team will have been playing at their home field for longer than the New Orleans Saints have been at the Caesars Superdome (since 1975): the Green Bay Packers, who have called Lambeau Field home since 1957. Some would argue that the Superdome is just as iconic as Lambeau and should remain in use beyond its lease in 2035. The Saints will have the option to pick up multiple five-year extensions between 2036 and 2051, so they could potentially stay put until 2055. The team and the state of Louisiana have poured hundreds of millions of dollars into renovating the Superdome to help that happen.

But at a time where NFL owners are all too happy to wring more tax dollars out of the communities they call home so they can build the same glittering copy-and-paste stadiums you'll find in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and soon, Buffalo, it's hard to believe the Saints will remain at the Superdome for another 30 years. The strong local support the Saints continue to receive would rule out relocation, but where do you build a new stadium? In suburban New Orleans East? By filling in the old Six Flags site with concrete, at great expense? Or by buying out much of the real estate and surface parking lots in the Warehouse District, anchoring the new stadium at the corner of Howard and Loyola (where an abandoned 45-story skyscraper remains)? It's a tough question to answer. Hopefully it isn't something Saints fans have to worry about for a long, long time.

This article originally appeared on Saints Wire: Chiefs, Bears seek new stadiums; are Saints next to leave Superdome?