SmashMouth

If you're keeping track of the NFL relocation game in California, the Rams and Chargers are now in Los Angeles and the Raiders hope to be in Las Vegas one day soon.

Depending on your point of view, the comings and goings represent the best or worst of NFL business policy. Either way, it's created the largest disruption in league membership since a two-year period in the 1990s when the Rams, Raiders and Oilers moved to St. Louis, Oakland and Nashville (by way of Memphis), respectively.



New stadiums have been the catalyst for each move. In the NFL, new stadiums are like franchise quarterbacks: You either have one or you're desperately trying to get one.

The scoreboard in the recent game of franchise roulette reads: New stadiums 3, old markets 0.

Which brings us to the Superdome, our venerable stadium of 42 years, the iconic fortress of concrete and steel that has become an integral part of New Orleans skyline and history.

It's time for us to start thinking about the stadium's future.

After all, when the Rams, Chargers and Raiders move into their new facilities in a few years, it will leave the Superdome as the fifth-oldest stadium in the NFL. Only Soldier Field (1924), Lambeau Field (1957), Arrowhead Stadium (1972) and New Era Field (1973) are older.

Nothing needs to be done right now. Heaven knows the cash-strapped state has more pressing matters on its hands than professional sports. But it's time we start thinking about a long-term plan. And by "we" I mean all of us: state officials; city leaders; the Saints; and you and me, the taxpayers.

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