Copyright Baton Rouge Advocate
Very rarely has someone who never lived in Louisiana done so much for the state and the city of New Orleans as did former NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue, who died Nov. 9 at age 84. By playing a leading role in keeping the Saints in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, and by using his influence in myriad ways to support the team and city thereafter, Tagliabue earned the gratitude and respect not just of Saints fans everywhere, but of all who care about the manifold, positive effects the team brings to the region. By many accounts, Tagliabue strongly persuaded owner Tom Benson to keep the Saints in New Orleans rather than move to San Antonio, where the team had temporarily relocated. The extent of his behind-the-scenes arm-twisting can be debated, but, as our sports columnist Jeff Duncan writes, the Saints “wouldn't have returned as successfully as they did without his shrewd leadership.” Tagliabue convened meetings with a group of the state’s wealthiest citizens to rally support for the team. He helped resources reach the team and ran interference for the Saints on Capitol Hill. He publicly supported the return efforts, and he highlighted them with a Monday Night Football extravaganza for the Superdome’s re-opening. The Saints’ victory, led by the famous blocked punt by special teams ace Steve Gleason, remains probably the single most celebrated MNF game ever. Tagliabue also helped bring three Super Bowls to New Orleans, and later, as an independent arbitrator regarding the Saints’ “Bountygate” scandal, removed penalties against Saints players that he said were excessive. Tagliabue served the NFL just as well. His 17 years at the helm were marked by consistent labor peace that previously had been hard for major sports leagues to achieve. He pioneered all sorts of contractual arrangements that led to much greater prosperity league-wide. He wisely implemented some of the most stringent protocols against steroids and illegal drugs in any organized sports league. And he worked hard and successfully to expand the chances for members of minority races to become head coaches and move up in team front-office management. Indeed, when Tagliabue took the commissioner’s job in 1989, the league featured only one Black head coach. By 2006, when he retired, the league could boast seven Black head coaches at the same time. A rebounding legend for the Georgetown Hoya basketball team in college, Tagliabue understood the actual athletic side of the sports business, and he guarded the integrity of the game. Still, for us in Louisiana, his greatest service was as a champion of the Saints when the team’s future was in severe doubt. For serving both the league and the Saints and Louisiana, Tagliabue’s always will be appreciated by Who Dat Nation.
