Saints Focus on Safety in France Ahead of Historic NFL Game

Clear Facts

• The New Orleans Saints arrived at Charles de Gaulle Airport and are staying on the outskirts of Versailles, 12 to 15 miles from central Paris.
• Coach Kellen Moore confirmed the team has no planned tours of Paris and stressed the importance of staying alert during the trip.
• The Saints and the NFL are proceeding with Sunday’s game against the Pittsburgh Steelers at Stade de France while monitoring local conditions.

The New Orleans Saints have arrived in France for the NFL’s first regular-season game on French soil. They are preparing to face the Pittsburgh Steelers at Stade de France on Sunday.

The team is based on the outskirts of Versailles, well away from central Paris.

Coach Kellen Moore told reporters the players have no scheduled sightseeing tours. He stressed that the trip remains a business trip.

“Our guys are smart,” Moore said. “They understand, you know, this is still a business trip …”

Players have been reminded to stay together, keep a low profile, and avoid unnecessary risks.

“Us as outsiders,” tight end Juwan Johnson told NOLA.com, “we just want to be as safe as possible.”

Safety Justin Reid said he plans to attend a soccer match between Paris Saint-Germain and Barcelona on his day off. He added that any outings will be done as a group.

“It’ll just be, ‘keep it low-key, keep it fun,’ do things as a group, do things as a team,” Reid said. “And above all else, stay out of the mix and don’t find any way to be a distraction to what our ultimate goal here is …”

“We want to enjoy being in Paris and seeing things, but I don’t think many of us are very interested in getting into the mix that deeply.”

Saints senior vice president of communications Greg Bensel confirmed the team has maintained daily security updates with French partners.

“We concur with the NFL’s statement and are planning to play the game,” Bensel said. “In addition to working closely with the NFL, we have also maintained daily security updates with our security partners in France.”

“Members of our football operations staff and internal security team have been on the ground in France for the past few days and there has been no disruption or impact at any of our team sites.”

Let us know what you think, please share your thoughts in the comments below.