The Champions Square Thread. Videos/photos/info and updates.
 

For years, New Orleanians have longed for a place to congregate and party before New Orleans Saints games and other sporting events at the Superdome.

Chris Granger/The Times-Picayune
Champions Square presented by Verizon, New Orleans' new tailgating headquarters that will feature food, retail and entertainment before events, is taking shape and will be ready for Saturday's Saints preseason opener.
That wait has ended.
The state and the Saints have partnered to build a sports and entertainment square outside of the iconic stadium on Poydras Street.
Champions Square presented by Verizon, a 60,000-square-foot (about the same size of Jackson Square) patch of land where the New Orleans Centre used to be, is set to open in time for Saturday night's exhibition home opener against the Houston Texans. The square can comfortably fit more than 8,000 revelers. It is free and accessible even if you don't have tickets to the Saints game.
"This is going to be a festive area much like you see across the country, like in L.A. and baseball stadiums across the country," Superdome Commission Chairman Ron Forman said. "This just adds another place for fans to congregate before and after the game.


Read the rest here

Wait... Whatdayamean where New Orleans Centre "used" to be? They tore down New Orleans Centre? How could I not have noticed it was gone when I was there a few weeks ago? Is the old Hyatt next?

In the words of the Kool-Aid man......"OH YEAH!"

Ha! I have a kool aid t shirt that says "Oh Yeah" and I get compliments on it every time I wear it. Had it on in REI this weekend in Atlanta and was stopped twice by people. Funny shizzle right there...

eeeeeehhh.....we dont need that..(were not Dallas Texas with its dome and its glitz and no substance)..all we need is another one of those silver throphy,,whatchamacallit...Superbowl trophy,,yeah,,yeah,,,thats right...us fans would love that much more..

Could somebody post some pictures from the Championship Square on a gameday? Would love to see what it looks like and I know we have a bunch of guys here that good photos.

Attachment 2387

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This was from the Opening game against Minnesota and the Viqueens. There were a lot of people and it was really hot!

Party on Garth.

Rep points are welcomed..


Video here:





Pix:

http://media.nola.com/saints_impact/...057170a0f5.jpg

http://media.nola.com/saints_impact/...36aceedbc0.jpg

Yea we do. I know we love our Dome, but in reality even with the recent upgrades it is still an out dated piece of junk. The least we can have is a cool place to party and gather before the games. I think it also helps jet the crowd pumped up and hyped resulting in a louder Dome and better homefield advantage. Seriously though, if you guys have never been to another stadium, you need to. I hate the Panthers with a passion, but I did live in Charlotte for a few years after the storm. When I found a bathroom in the stadium that I could go into, lock the door, sit on a CLEAN, private toilet and watch the game on a flat screen TV while I was doing my business, I realized how outdated our Dome is. Plus I got to see the Saints beat the **** out of the Panthers in their own house.

Except for the dome I've only been to Soldier field and Landshark Stadium (Or whatever the stadium in Miami is called this month). The dome IMHO is a far better stadium than those two. It feels fresher and never. The Dolphis store was far superior to the one in the dome last year when I visited but ours has been expanded since right? Crappy toilets is something those 3 stadiums have in common thou...

Superdome's Concessions have been upgraded, expanded however the food has gotten worse, a company name centerplate own's the Concessions so everytime i visit i send them an email.
Venue Map | Centerplate

The 1 cheese cup for a big container of Nacho's, expanded price on beer, 3 Chicken strips for 7 bucks that had no flavor was just out of control.

But the Superdome Bathrooms have been upgraded and are are much better than they use to be MUCH BETTER!!!..

Pun intended? :mrgreen:

Verizon is working on a plan in the off-season to be a long term Partner of Champions Square, that will definitely help enhance this area, they have the deeper pockets and know all the big names to get things done and do it fast this is a great thing!
I hope Verizon ink a long term deal who knows how much investment they'll pump into this to make it bigger than it was originally dreamed up?

More info:

Future enhancements

Following the upcoming football season, workers will begin Phase II, which entails paving the square and bricking the street (provided the city approves the permanent closure of the one-block stretch of LaSalle) plus adding landscaping. The temporary stairs leading to the Dome will be replaced this offseason with a permanent set as well but that project technically falls under the next phase of the Dome renovation.

The plan also calls for a permanent entryway on the Poydras entrance to LaSalle.

Aside from the tight timetable of the project, Saints executive vice president Dennis Lauscha said they wanted to do the project in phases because it allowed officials to gain a pulse for what fans want.

"This property sat dormant for a very long time, " Lauscha said. "A lot of people looked at it. And a lot of people couldn't figure out how to make it work. So we are taking a shot, trying to make this thing work. So I think it is going to work out to our advantage having it phased in."

If the Saints and state are able to pull off the first two phases, there is also a plan for further development along the patch of land adjacent the Dome.

A Phase III, which would be completed sometime after 2013, would build out a façade and add a permanent food court.

We need another pep rally at the square...I was thinking the sunday before the big game with the falcons would be great.

Tell you what, be careful what you wish for, if you're wanting a new stadium. You could get one, and that would entail the PSL, a hefty rise in ticket prices, new taxes out the azz, advertisement on every square inch of toilet paper, and the result is a nice yuppie-fied crowd like they have in Dallas & Houston, because real fans like you and me would be priced out of it.

I dont need no stinkin amenities. does Lambeau have amenities? If I want amenities, I'll go to the girly-spa and get my nails done.

Im there to see football.

There aint a damn thing wrong with the Dome -- the Loudest Stadium in Sports.

I agree. I want it to be clan when I go to the bathroom and I don't wanna wait in a line for a long time to take a leak. Other than that, Beer and football is all I need.

Surely you're not sitting at the Dome. C'mon, thats the whole purpose of being a guy. So we never have to sit, so it doesnt matter--We can pee in a swamp or a junkyard. Stop in LaPlace and poop. Like me.

Otherwise, tell the guy in front of you to wipe up after himself, or you'll kick his azz. Then remind everyone else in the room that sink in the middle is for handwashing only. Sure it looks like a pi$$er, and it's knee high, we understand. And hey, first time in history, at the Falcons game-- somebody actually got busted for smoking. I thought you were supposed to smoke in the Superdome Bathroom.

As for lines, I pee pee just before the 2 minute warning to avoid the halftime rush. Yeah, its inconvienient, but thats the price for sitting in a real stadium with real fans, and not being in the Jerry-Dome, or the biggest morgue in sports-- Reliant Stadium.

If it was up to me, we'd be in Tulane Stadium, with bench seats, dealing with the weather & sucking it up, like men. If I needed amenities, I'd be watching Will & Grace, not football.

Man I grew up with Morgus. He was on channel 26 and they would show some of the wierdest crap, but we loved it.

Not impressed with the Charlottte stadium. The food courts, there is no variety. It's the same stuff ducks in a row on every level. It looked like a middle of the road college stadium. Then they tried to add some heritage with the statue of Mills when everybody knows that statue is out of place since the bulk of his career was in NO. And it rains a lot there, with wind, there was hardly anyplace to escape it even for a little while. I did however like the train getting to and from the game and the city is nice but other than that I'd take the SD anyday.

I'm not a fan of the Championship Square either. I use to like to park under Tulane ave under the overpass and cook before the game and have a few beers with some friends. The parking was free and we could cut up all we wanted to and had all the space we needed to toss the ball around.
People in LA love to tailgate and just hang out and CC is not a reflection of that, it's just a place to gather a bunch of people, encase them, and then proceed to empty their wallets.

I gotta disagree with you on the Superdome, LSU Tiger stadium puts Panthers Bank of America Stadium to shame in comparison if you want to compare out air stadiums with all the amenities, i do like the city of Charlotte, it's nice and clean and suburban.. "yawn" but yea..
Yeah they have a couple of cool things built into it like the LCDs all over the place including restrooms mostly because it's a newer stadium "Cowboys stadium" makes all of that look outdated by the way.

The Superdome is still to this day the best indoor pro football facility i've been in and i've been to a good few over time, as an overall football stadium Open air, i think i prefer Raymond James, if you've never been to it.. Lemme tell you.. Bank of America Stadium can't hold Raymond James Stadium Jock in Open air, it has all the bells and whistles and it's just plain cool.
Retractable roof stadiums im gonna go with University of Phoenix Arizona Stadium.. Cowboys stadium is nice and i mean really nice but they sacrificed bad live field viewing for a good variety of seats, there are literally pillars in the way of some of the seats in there, and if your sitting at the very top level nothing looks good, but you do have that 1 mile long screen to look at it.. But if i wanted to watch a game on TV i'd stay home.

skymike well said!!