We remember back in the 2006-7 NFL season when the Saints returned to play in the Superdome. You had U2 and Green Day there singing, ESPN covering the game, and about 45 minutes of pre-game about how much the Saints mean to the city of New Orleans.

The Saints were the saving grace. The people of New Orleans could cheer on the team and forget about their troubles. The Saints back in town would help bring people and money back into the city. Articles like this one were written about how much the Saints helped New Orleans. All true statements.

But, it seems the NFL has forgotten how important the Saints are to New Orleans. We read in this article that the Saints will most likely be playing the Chargers in London during the 2008-09 season. And guess who gets it counted as their home game? The Saints.

Yeah, that makes a lot of sense.

Where’s all the talk now from the NFL about how important the Saints are to the city? They’re so important that you can just throw away one of their 8 home games without blinking an eye? This isn’t the NBA with 41 home games, the is the NFL. Eight home games all season, eight chances to pull in that revenue for the city. The city that the NFL just knew the Saints would have a huge impact on.

Here’s what former commissioner Paul Tagliabue had to say in this 2006 article: “This is in many ways a real turning point in the recovery and the rebuilding effort and the Saints’ contribution to all that… We’ve been reading about other restaurants, other things opening up, energy coming back, and talking to other real estate people. … It’s very clear we’re gaining momentum.”

And now, current commish is sending the Saints to London for a “home” game. Last time we checked, London was a long way from New Orleans.

So, way to go NFL. We think that’s awesome to build up these Saints as a difference-maker in their city, then ship them off and rob them of a home game for 2008. Very thoughtful of you.  And to make matters worse, we came across this article noting that the Chargers were struggling to sell out their home playoff game a few weeks ago.  A home playoff game!

Basically, the NFL is taking a home game away from New Orleans instead of taking it away from a team who had a difficult time selling out a game in a the playoffs.  Wow.

We’ll leave you these comments from Saints running back Deuce McAllister from an article in September of 2006: “Until you really visit it and spend some time here in the city, in this region, you really don’t understand what this team means to the region. Literally, when you’re born, you’re born with that black and gold in your blood. It’s a part of you.”

Apparently, it’s been a couple of years since the NFL higher-ups visited the city or spent some time there.