JOESAM2002

Posted on August 8, 2003
KAQY, the ABC affiliate in northeastern Louisiana, will air three New Orleans Saints preseason games - and in prime time.

"We're excited to have the Saints back - and it's a great bonus to our Monday Night Football season," says general manager Tom Deal.

The Saints' preseason game against the New York Jets airs from 7-10 p.m. Aug. 16. New Orleans takes on San Francisco, after the Little League World Series, from 9 p.m.-midnight Aug. 23.

The team then wraps up its preseason schedule against the Miami Dolphins - featuring former Saints Ricky Williams and Sammy Knight - from 7-10 p.m. Aug. 28.

"It's great to have all the games in prime time," Deal says. This is the second consecutive season that Channel 11 will air the preseason games live.

ABC-11 will also air Tampa Bay at St. Louis on Aug. 18 and Indianapolis at Denver on Aug. 25.



Saints set to break sales record soon: New Orleans is about 100 season tickets away from breaking its all-time record of 53,312 - set 15 seasons ago.

The team announced that sales are at 53,209, with officials predicting the record could fall before the weekend begins.

"We are very hopeful that tomorrow could be a historic day for the Saints organization, as well as for all Saints fans," says Saints executive vice president Arnold Fielkow. "We now have the second-highest season-ticket total in club history."

The Saints open their preseason this coming Monday against Philadelphia at the Superdome. Just 1,100 tickets remain for that contest, and only 3,500 tickets are available for the club's second home preseason game, vs. Miami on Aug. 28. If both preseason games sell out, it would mark just the second time in club history that the preseason has been sold out.

The Saints' first regular-season home game is Sept. 14 against Houston. Other regular-season home opponents include Atlanta, Carolina, Tampa Bay, Dallas, New York Giants, Indianapolis and Chicago.



Guarded condition: Chad Setterstrom, the rookie guard out of Northern Iowa, was injured in practice on Thursday - though it doesn't appear to be serious.

"He caught his foot in the grass," Saints coach Jim Haslett said at the evening news conference. "I am not quite sure what he did. There was no collision and no hit. Hopefully, it is not bad."

Setterstrom was signed as an undrafted free agent in May.



Marching in: Featured entertainers at Monday's preseason game at the Louisiana Superdome against Philadelphia include Dwayne Dopsie and the Hellraisers; the Coolbone Brass Band will perform in Superdome Club Rooms. The game will air on ESPN. ... The Saints released wide receiver Will Pettis and re-signed place kicker Luke Magnet, whom they cut just four days ago. ... Haslett said David Sloan, who had surgery to clean out his shoulder on Monday, is slated to return in two weeks. He should be able to practice catching next week.