By LeMont Calloway
NYT Institute

From the avid fan on Bourbon Street to the 8-year-old Little Leaguer, each has their own opinion on New Orleans professional sports teams. But they have one thing in common: a less-than-enthusiastic view of the city’s best-known teams.

While the Voodoo and Zephyrs have been received with open arms, local fans’ perceptions and attitudes toward the Saints and Hornets have been on a steady decline.

New Orleans is home to the NBA’s Hornets and NFL’s Saints. Those teams also share the athletic spotlight with the Arena Football League and AAA professional baseball. The Voodoo takes some of the football pressure off the Saints, while the Zephyrs stand alone as the only professional baseball team in the city.

Over the past five seasons, the Saints are 42-38, but have failed to reach the postseason since 2000.

The exclusive rights to ineffectiveness, however, do not belong solely to the Saints. The other major professional team in town, the Hornets, which moved from Charlotte, N.C., in 2002, has also fallen on hard times. After a 47-35 inaugural season in New Orleans in which they made the playoffs as a fifth seed, the Hornets have since gone 59-105.

Their drought in the win column has translated into lower home attendance numbers for both teams.

The Hornets began their New Orleans career in 2002 with an average of 15,651 fans in the New Orleans Arena, which seats 18,500 for basketball. This past season saw a 1,440-fan decrease, bringing their numbers down to a league-low of 14,211.

During the 2000 season, the same season in which the Saints made the playoffs, the average attendance for the eight home games in the Superdome was 63,039. The following year, attendance jumped to 70,059. Since then, attendance has dipped to an average of 64,147.

The Arena Football League’s Voodoo, who share the New Orleans Arena with the Hornets, play with a fewer total capacity of seats. With 16,900 available seats, the Voodoo took in an average of 15,240 fans in 2004, outdrawing the Hornets.

In the four years spent at the University of New Orleans’ Privateer Park, which seats 5,225, the AAA professional baseball Zephyrs brought in an average of 2,590 fans. In the seven years since moving to the more spacious Zephyr Field, the average attendance has jumped to 6,168.

Paul Prino, an employee of Jonny White’s Sports Bar located on the corner of Bourbon and Orleans in the French Quarter, explained why his views on the Saints are swayed away from the home team.

“Besides the fact that the Pittsburgh Steelers are by far my favorite team, I just don’t like the Saints,” said the Lancaster County, Pa., native. “They demand way too much.”

The demands Prino spoke about were the cost of game tickets. The purchase of a season ticket package for the Saints costs in the range of $250-$1,300 per seat compared to the $250-$2,700 for the Steelers.

“Every game I went to, they lost,” Prino said. “What have they done for us to make me want to pay that much?”

Tiffane Guichet, a 29-year-old bartender at the Old Absinthe House, couldn’t agree more about the Saints, whose record since 1967, 234-399-5, includes a 1-15 record in 1980.

“I think everybody’s tired of the losing streak that hasn’t ended in 35 years,” Guichet said. “I can’t afford to go. I think they’re asking too much out of the city where half the city is falling apart.”

The Saints have an agreement with city officials that would allow the team a 90-day period to leave the city after the season by paying an $81 million exit fee. Saints owner Tom Benson has said that he does not want to relocate the team, but state officials have opposed a deal to pay the Saints $186 million over 10 years to keep the franchise in Louisiana, saying the state cannot afford it.

Opinions on the status of professional sports in New Orleans are even being formed by those who aren’t necessarily enthralled with the sports world.

“If they can make better money somewhere else, let them go,” said Paul Fritt, a regular at Jonny White’s who pays no attention to sports, in response to the tentative proposal made by the Saints to move the franchise to San Antonio. “It’s the same with the Hornets, but they’re not as greedy as the Saints are. It’s nice to have a hometown team, but the Saints have over-stepped the bounds of decency in greeting the local economy.”

Even though some fans appear to have given up totally on their home teams, there are still those who have taken to heart the new media campaign being pushed by the Hornets, which calls for fans to “Believe.”

Kenneth Smith, who has lived in New Orleans his whole life, has not lost faith in the Hornets.

“They’re a good team, they just crack up toward the end of the season,” Smith said. “I go to the games and cheer for them. My favorite player on the Hornets is J.R. (Smith). Nothing will happen overnight, but I’m thinking a few years down the road, I think he’s going to be the next M.J. (Michael Jordan).”

Smith mentioned that, unlike the Saints, Hornets tickets are extremely affordable.

“Lower seats are about 50 bucks and the 300 level seats go for $7 to $12,” Smith said. “By the arena not being so big, everybody pretty much has a good view.”

He didn’t dismiss the fact that the Hornets have made some questionable personnel decisions in their brief New Orleans history.

Paul Silas, who was named interim coach on March 7, 1999, and appointed as the full-time head coach May 11, 1999, led the Hornets to four straight playoff appearances including the second round in 2001 and 2002. His 208 Hornet victories are the most by any coach in franchise history. His stint as head coach, however, was cut short in 2003 when he was fired.

“They should have given him a better chance and stuck with him,” Smith said.

In an attempt to give the fans what they want, the Hornets’ homepage has even asked fans to email the team so they can find out which game giveaways they’d like to get next season.

On-field success coupled with a fan-friendly atmosphere has helped the city’s Arena League and minor-league baseball teams make a dent in the New Orleans sports scene.

The Voodoo took to the indoor field in February 2004. Its home debut February 14, which drew 14,236 fans at the New Orleans Arena, was a 41-40 come-from-behind victory over the Indiana Firebirds.

Since then, the Voodoo has experienced a wide range of successes, including Coach of the Year honors for Mike Neu and several all-league player selections. The team also garnered a playoff berth behind an 11-5 inaugural regular-season record before falling 47-44 to the Colorado Crush in the first round.

Attendance at Voodoo games ranked third in the AFL during the 2004 season.

The season finale against the Carolina Cobras drew a standing room only crowd of 17,030, clearly topping the league average of 12,019.

“I’ve never gone to any games, but I hear that they win more,” said Guichet, before referring to the Saints: “When your team loses horribly over and over, it’s not entertaining anymore.”

As new as the Voodoo are to the New Orleans scene, baseball in the city has a long history. Dating back to the 1880s, the New Orleans Pelicans participated in the Southern League, which converted into the Southern Association in 1901. After a 17-year hiatus, New Orleans baseball resumed in 1977 when the Pelicans joined the American Association.

The Zephyrs joined the Pacific Coast League as a Houston Astros affiliate in 1993 and have served as a minor-league training ground for players like three-time Astros all-star Lance Berkman. After playing four years in the University of New Orleans’ Privateer Park, the Zephyrs, currently a Washington Nationals affiliate, moved into Zephyr Field in 1997, which seats approximately 10,000.

Before this month, John Berthelot, 46, of Chalmette, La., had only been to one baseball game in his life. It was a Zephyrs game. As batting practice commenced at Zephyr Field, Berthelot explained why he was making his second trip.

“I’m not really a great professional baseball fan, but the first game I came to, I had a great time,” Berthelot said. “There’s so much going on that sometimes you can’t even concentrate on the game. They try to make it fun for everybody.”

The Zephyrs offer a jam-packed season-long promotional plan that includes $1 hot dog Wednesdays and a fireworks exhibition every Friday night. The park is even equipped with a pool for private parties behind the right field wall.

“This is fabulous,” said Guy Pellitteri, 52, who attended a Zephyrs game with his company, the Gumbo Shop, at the pool. “There’s not a better way to see a baseball game than sitting back in a hot tub with a beer.”

But one of the special moments of each Zephyrs game occurs as the national anthem is sung. Local Little League ballplayers accompany the players on the field, giving them a chance to bond with some of athletes they look up to.

Ian MacInnes, an 8-year-old right fielder for his Vikings Little League baseball team who recently attended a game, said he looked forward to catching foul balls and seeing home runs.

“I wish we had a Major League team here though,” MacInnes said. “If we did, I would call them the Yankees.”

Whether or not MacInnes’ wish comes true, New Orleans sports fans are not alone in wanting their teams to succeed. It took the Boston Red Sox 86 years to capture their first World Series championship since 1918, but their fans went along for the ride and supported them every step of the way.

Pellitteri, who loves the Saints, expressed his feelings on the current state of the team.

“It’s like being a Boston Red Sox fan,” Pellitteri said. “You get beat up, depressed. But hey, they’re our team. There’s so much negative publicity about this town. They’re something people take a lot of pride in. If they go, nobody’s going to take their place.”

The only professional team in New Orleans to win a championship was the Zephyrs, back in 1998 when they defeated the Buffalo Bisons to capture the Pacific Coast League Eastern Division title. Fans of the Hornets, Saints and Voodoo are still waiting for their hometown teams to shine.