New Orleans Saints to open 2010 season with a parade before meeting the Vikings

New Orleans Saints to open 2010 season with a parade before meeting the Vikings,Champ Bailey Jerseys
Coach Sean Payton wanted the world to see the Lombardi Trophy. (AP)
The opening of the 2010 season is less than a month away now and the are ready to step onto the field of the Superdome as the defending Super Bowl champions. A NFC Championship game rematch with the will begin the season and see it kicked off in style.
Speaking of style, this is New Orleans you know?
Doing it the only way the city knows how, New Orleans and the Saints celebrated the victory in with a appropriately labeled "Lombardi Gras." Now they're going to have a second parade to help with the 2010 Kickoff that includes a concert in Jackson Square before the game. The concert will have pop star Taylor Swift and the Dave Matthews Band.
"Given New Orleans' tradition of parades and music and food and football, we decided to combine all those things into a single celebration," said NFL Senior Vice President of Events Frank Supovitz. "The Krewe of NFL Kickoff Parade."
It's not going to be a huge parade by any means, but that is due to the other festivities going on as well,Knowshon Moreno Jerseys. Eight marching bands will strut down the street intermixed among seven floats. That is about the same size as the parade the Saints took part in for Lombardi Gras.
New Orleans chefs and musicians will join up with ex-NFL players on top of of the floats in the parade which will also have trucks decorated to represent the sixteen games in the NFL's opening weekend. Throws will be tossed from the celebrities to the crowd,Rahim Moore Jersey.
The parade will begin at 5PM central time and go down an altered route that Blaine Kern's (Kern Studios CEO) Krewe of Halloween parade goes down. It begins on Elysian Fields Avenue, then from Esplanade at the river and proceeding on North Peters to Decatur past the St. Louis Cathedral, back to North Peters, across Canal and Poydras Streets to Tchoupitoulas, and then it will begin to disband.
NFL Opening Kickoff 2010 Presented by EA Sports
~ What: A pregame parade and concert, featuring Taylor Swift and the Dave Matthews Band, in honor of the defending Super Bowl champion New Orleans Saints before their 2010 regular season opening game against the Minnesota Vikings.
~ When: Thursday, Sept. 9. Parade begins at 5 p.m.; concert begins at 6:30 p.m. and will be televised on the NFL Network and NBC.
~ Where: Parade will begin at Elysian Fields and Decatur Street, continue down Decatur to North Peters Street, cross Canal and Poydras streets and end on Tchoupitoulas Street. Concert is in Jackson Square.
~ Cost: Events are free, but tickets are required. Ticket information will be announced at a later date.
Once the parade reaches Jackson Square, it will stop momentarily at the stages for live performances from the Dave Matthews Band and Swift. NBC, which will air the game and celebration, is going to be a part of it all. NBC celebrities could also end up riding in the parade.
Fans are going to be separated at the event into two groups. The first will be small (in the hundreds) and stand on Decatur Street right in front of the stage during the musical interludes. They'll shift locations as the parade comes down.
Group number two (possibly in the thousands) will stand in Jackson Square behind the first group.
This parade and huge celebration is being done not only for the opening of the NFL season and in support of the Super Bowl champion Saints. The Superdome will be filled on Thursday, September 9 with over 70,000 fans, but what about those that aren't able to be inside with a ticket? This parade, the musical guests, and more is so that all the people of New Orleans can take part in everything.
My suggestion to those that work downtown is to try and see if you can get that day off or at least leave from work a little early. That is especially true if you aren't going to be attending any of the celebration and plan on going home. You get out too late, then chances are you're going to be stuck.
Kern agrees. "All I'm going to say is the same thing I said before the Super Bowl parade in February: I would get out there early."
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