Sports
From Super Bowls to Michael Jordan, Muhammad Ali to ‘last resort,’ the Superdome has seen it all
NEW ORLEANS — Spring 1982. Sixteen seconds left in the NCAA final, and a skinny freshman from North Carolina buries a jumper that delivers a championship and changes his life.
He showed up in New Orleans that week as Mike Jordan. He left as Michael.
By that point, the sprawling steel building that provided the stage for Jordan’s arrival into the national consciousness — the seven-year-old Louisiana Superdome — was used to gripping theater unfolding within its walls. In November 1980, as the seconds ticked away at the end of the eighth round of the world welterweight championship, boxer Roberto Durán, tired of chasing Sugar Ray Leonard around the ring, waved his glove at the referee and staggered to his corner. “No más, no más,” Durán muttered. It was the first time a world champ had voluntarily conceded the title in 16 years.
Two years prior, the same stadium witnessed the last of Muhammad Ali’s 56 professional wins, a unanimous decision over Leon Spinks that took back the WBA heavyweight title.
Pete Maravich ran the break here. Keith Smart’s jumper won Indiana the title here. Chris Webber called a timeout he didn’t have here.
In 1978, the venue hosted the first prime-time Super Bowl. Thirty-five years later the lights went out in another. Tom Brady won his first here; Brady’s idol, Joe Montana, won his last here.
In 1981 the Rolling Stones performed in front of 87,500 — then a record crowd for an indoor concert. The pope visited. Presidents, too.
But for native New Orleanians, nothing will match the night Steve Gleason’s blocked punt helped make a city feel whole again.
Not after the devastation wrought when Hurricane Katrina made landfall on Aug. 29, 2005. As levees broke and parishes flooded, the Superdome became “a refuge of last resort” for displaced citizens. Thousands crammed inside with nowhere else to turn. The plumbing failed. The air conditioning failed. Vicious winds peeled off parts of the roof. Urine pooled on the floor. Blood stained the walls. One man reportedly jumped to his death from a stadium balcony.
A city was left reeling, its citizens scarred, its iconic stadium battered.
Twelve months later the Superdome was restored, and with it, New Orleans. Doug Thornton, executive president of ASM Global, the company that runs the stadium, watched Saints fans file through the gates the night of the home opener with tears rolling down their cheeks. “They never thought they’d get to come back in,” he says now.
What followed was a moment so symbolic the team erected a statue to commemorate it.
After forcing the Atlanta Falcons into a three-and-out on the first possession of the game, Gleason laid out to block a punt attempt by Michael Koenen. Saints teammate Curtis DeLoatch recovered the ball as it rolled into the end zone for a New Orleans touchdown that kicked off a cathartic celebration. “I’ve never been in a stadium louder than that,” ESPN’s Mike Tirico later told NFL Films.
“Rebirth,” the statue commemorating Steve Gleason’s iconic 2006 punt block, was unveiled outside the Superdome in 2012. (Jonathan Bachman / Getty Images)
The Superdome’s eighth Super Bowl arrives Sunday; no other stadium has hosted more than six. It’s a testament to the rarest of American sporting venues, one that has stood the test of time despite a host of factors fighting against its longevity, including architectural advances and the worst Mother Nature has to offer. More than that, amid the era of multibillion-dollar, state-of-the-art stadiums, fewer and fewer NFL franchises call downtown home.
The Saints still do. And that’s how New Orleans prefers it.
Stadiums that have hosted the most Super Bowls
| Stadium | City | Super Bowls |
|---|---|---|
|
Caesars Superdome |
New Orleans, La. |
8 |
|
Hard Rock Stadium |
Miami Gardens, Fla. |
6 |
|
Orange Bowl |
Miami, Fla. |
5 |
|
Rose Bowl |
Pasadena, Calif. |
5 |
|
State Farm Stadium |
Glendale, Ariz. |
3 |
|
Tulane Stadium |
New Orleans, La. |
3 |
|
Raymond James Stadium |
Tampa, Fla. |
3 |
|
Qualcomm Stadium |
San Diego, Calif. |
3 |
“I’ve spent half my life in this building,” says Thornton, whose office for the last 28 years has been inside the since-renamed Caesars Superdome. “We’ve always joked that New Orleans viewed the Superdome as its living room. It’s where we watch our kids graduate high school. It’s where we come together for Saints games. For monster truck rallies. For all these major events we host every year like the Sugar Bowl.
“People just revere this place.”
Macie Washington tends bar at Walk-Ons a few blocks from the stadium. New Orleans without the Superdome? The thought lingers in her mind for a few moments. She grows quiet. She’s never considered it.
“Everything that happens in the dome, we feel it here,” she says. “It’s the heart of our city.”
Consider similar venues erected in the same era, during what was then a new wave of American ingenuity: Houston’s Astrodome (opened in 1965, closed in 2008), Detroit’s Pontiac Silverdome (opened 1975, closed in 2013); Seattle’s Kingdome (opened 1976, closed in 2000); Minneapolis’ Metrodome (opened 1982, closed in 2013), Indianapolis’ RCA Dome (opened 1984, closed in 2008). All but the Astrodome have been razed.
The Superdome still stands, and thanks in part to a recent $557 million facelift that was spread across four NFL seasons, will have a different look for Super Bowl LIX. More than $100 million of that came directly from Saints owner Gayle Benson, according to Jay Cicero, president and CEO of the Greater New Orleans Sports Foundation. “If that’s not proof they wanna stay put, I don’t know what is.”
Cicero doesn’t mean stay put in New Orleans. He means stay put in the Superdome.
“To continue to plan and fund renovations in the stadium rather than tear it down and build a new one from scratch?” Cicero continues. “That just speaks to how important it is to New Orleanians.”
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Thornton says the original price tag for the building, way back in 1967, was around $42 million. But by its long-delayed 1975 unveiling, the cost had jumped to $160 million. It was a means to an end. The city wanted an NFL franchise. Legend has it longtime league commissioner Pete Rozelle told New Orleans businessman Dave Dixon — who spearheaded the push — that his city could have a team so long as it met one critical condition.
“You better build a stadium with a roof because of all the thunderstorms,” Rozelle said.
Dixon obliged. Louisiana erected the biggest domed stadium in the country. The building covers 13 square acres. At its apex, the roof is 273 feet from the floor. “Two million square feet under the roof,” Thornton marvels. “When it opened it was twice the size of the Astrodome.”
It is also the NFL’s fifth-oldest active stadium and will climb to fourth after the Bills vacate Highmark Stadium in the coming years (and third if the Bears ever leave Soldier Field). The recent renovations, spurred by Benson and the Saints organization, have modernized the facility and opened up the concourses for easier movement.
“It looks more like a nightclub now versus a coliseum,” adds Sam Joffray, who spent 25 years with the Greater New Orleans Sports Foundation and actually designed the stadium’s first website back in the mid-1990s. “It’s a pretty amazing example of what can happen if you keep reinvesting in a venue instead of tearing it down.”
NFL’s oldest stadiums
| Franchise | Stadium | Year opened | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
1 |
Soldier Field |
1924 |
|
|
2 |
Lambeau Field |
1957 |
|
|
3 |
Arrowhead Stadium |
1972 |
|
|
4 |
Highmark Stadium |
1973 |
|
|
5 |
Caesars Superdome |
1975 |
|
|
6 |
Hard Rock Stadium |
1987 |
|
|
7 |
EverBank Stadium |
1995 |
|
|
8 |
Bank of America Stadium |
1996 |
|
|
9 |
Northwest Stadium |
1997 |
|
|
10 |
M&T Bank Stadium |
1998 |
One message is plastered throughout the city this week, from the beads volunteers are handing out at the airport to signage lining the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center: This is what we do. New Orleans prides itself in its ability to host major events, and at the center of that is the colossal stadium — a short walk from just about anywhere downtown — that transformed the city’s potential from the minute it opened.
“The Superdome put New Orleans on the map,” Thornton says. “Before it was constructed, our major industries were oil and gas and shipping. Now, our major industries are tourism, oil and gas and shipping.
“I always joke,” he continues, “that as soon as someone shows up for the Super Bowl here, they’re handed a hurricane from Pat O’Brien’s at the airport and they head to the French Quarter and they never leave.”
Like Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Fenway Park in Boston, Wrigley Field in Chicago and Madison Square Garden in New York, the Superdome has forged a uniquely intimate relationship with a city and its residents. “We’re not the biggest market in the world. Actually we’re pretty small compared to most NFL cities,” Cicero says. “But we can compete for these major events and host these major events, and it starts with a truly amazing, amazing venue. The Superdome is just part of the fabric of New Orleans.”
It’s why the Saints have no interest in finding a new home.
It’s why the Super Bowl keeps finding its way back to New Orleans.
“This community has such a way of putting its stamp on it,” NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said earlier this week when asked why The Big Easy remains such a consistent player in the league’s Super Bowl rotation. “I think the people here wrap their arms around it and make it better. I think we’ve realized that this is a place that is sort of perfect for the Super Bowl.”
(Illustration: Dan Goldfarb / The Athletic; photos: Aaron M. Sprecher, Manny Millan, Bob Rosato, James Drake / Sports Illustrated via Getty Images)
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On Friday, Argentina looked to continue its quest for back-to-back World Cup titles, and to do it, they had to get through one of the darlings of this year’s tournament, Cape Verde.
The small island nation off the coast of West Africa came into the match as the No. 64-ranked team in the world, and they managed to hold Argentina — the No. 2 team behind France at the moment — scoreless for almost thirty minutes.
But in the 29th minute, Lionel Messi scored to give Argentina the lead.
WATCH THE WORLD CUP FINAL ON FOX ONE
That was the 20th World Cup goal of his career, and it also made him the first player to score seven or more goals in multiple World Cups, having done it in Qatar as well.
It was also Messi’s eighth-straight World Cup match with a goal.
Argentina’s Lionel Messi scored in his eight-straight World Cup match and potted the 20th World Cup goal of his career. (Photo by Pablo Morano/BSR Agency/Getty Images))
Well, typically when Argentina takes the lead, they don’t cough it up, but early in the second half, Cape Verde’s Deroy Duarte pulled off a stunner and tied the game at 1-1.
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While there was some late pressure from Argentina, that included an always-dangerous Messi free kick from just outside the box that Cape Verde managed to stop.
And with that, it was off to extra time.
Cape Verde celebrates after scoring one of their two tying goals against Argentina. (Photo by Pablo Morano/BSR Agency/Getty Images)
However, it only took moments for Cape Verde to find themselves once again battling from behind.
Lisandro Martinez found the twine in the 92nd minute to give Argentina the lead.
It looked like that would be all she wrote… but Cape Verde had other plans.
They stuck with the defending World Cup champs, and in the 103rd minute, Sidny Lopes Cabral scored an unbelievable goal to tie the game again.
Coming into this game, Argentina had given up just two goals in their ten-match World Cup winning streak.
Cape Verde did that in one match.
Argentina’s Cristian Romero gets his head on what proved ot be the game-winning goal. (Sam Navarro-Imagn Images)
But in the 111th minute, Messi took an Argentina corner kick and put it in the perfect spot for Cristian Romero to head it to the back post and into the back of the net.
This was eventually updated to an own-goal, as it went off the Cape Verde defender’s arm, but it counts the same on the scoreboard.
Despite a late flurry of chances, Argentina held on to avoid what would have been potentially the biggest upset in World Cup history.
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What a match, and what a run Cape Verde had in the tournament.
Argentina will now have to recompose and get ready for a tough Round of 16 match against Egypt, which will take place on Tuesday in Atlanta.
Like a good striker, Folarin Balogun never loses sight of the goal. And the goal for the U.S. team in this summer’s World Cup hasn’t been just to win, which they’ve done, but to inspire.
And that’s how Balogun found himself on the field, shaking hands with Brazilian referee Raphael Claus, about 45 minutes after Claus gave him a controversial red card in Wednesday’s win over Bosnia-Herzegovina, a red card that will keep him out of Monday’s round-of-16 game with Belgium.
“Little kids are watching, and we have to show them the correct way to handle things, even when you think it’s unjust,” Balogun said Friday.
“It’s not an excuse to be disrespectful, to not do the right thing. I’m aware that the World Cup might be the first time a lot of American viewers are tuning in. So it’s important, whether things happen to you good or bad, just to continue to be yourself.”
That doesn’t mean Balogun didn’t think the red card was unjust. He does. And he definitely thinks something bad happened to him and his team since Balogun, the Americans’ leading scorer with three goals in as many games, will have to sit out the team’s most important game in a generation.
It’s just means that Balogun, who celebrated his 25th birthday Friday, is also mature enough to understand a game — even a World Cup elimination game — is just a game.
“It’s been a roller coaster,” he said before the team’s training session at the University of Washington. “There’s been lots of different emotions. I’ve been upset, I’ve been happy. But for me, it was just important to stay calm. I never want to react out of anger and out of emotion.”
Balogun, who had given his team a 1-0 lead in the waning seconds of the first half, collided with Tarik Muharemovic 16 minutes into the second half, and when the Bosnian defender planted his right leg below Balogun’s right foot, the American inadvertently stomped on his right ankle, twisting it awkwardly.
U.S. forward Folarin Balogun steps on Bosnia-Herzegovina defender Tarik Muharemovic’s foot and received a red card.
(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)
Both players went down and Claus did not signal a foul or pull card. But after the video assistant referee urged him to watch a replay, Claus walked away from the monitor and flashed the red card. That left the U.S. to finish Wednesday’s game with just 10 men and disqualified Balogun for Monday’s game. U.S. Soccer said Friday FIFA’s disciplinary committee did not add any games to Balogun’s suspension.
“There’s the scenarios that you simply can’t avoid,” he said, “and it has to be taken into context when it’s being reviewed. I felt it wasn’t on this occasion. There’s nowhere else to put your leg. It’s going to be unavoidable.
“I think a yellow card would have been fair. [But] it’s something that’s happened, so we have to move forward, and I have to accept it. The most important thing is just to focus on the bigger picture, which is Belgium.”
Replacing Balogun won’t be easy since he’s emerged as one of the team’s most effective and creative players, either scoring of setting up the go-ahead goal in all three of the U.S. wins.
“We’ve got guys that can fill in and have to be ready for the opportunity to step up,” midfielder Tyler Adams said. “When you miss a player like Balo, obviously things change a little bit. But we’ve been flexible. Guys have shown that they’re ready to play.”
The most likely replacements are Ricardo Pepi and Haji Wright. Pepi, who scored 16 goals for PSV in the Dutch Eredivisie this season, played 90 minutes in place of Balogun in the U.S. loss to Turkey in the final group-stage match. Wright, who had 17 goals for Coventry City in the English Championship, played in all four U.S. games in the 2022 World Cup, scoring once, but he has made just one appearance in this summer’s tournament.
“Balo is an important part of our team, and it’s a disappointing way for him to miss the next game,” said Wright, who grew up in Culver City and spent three years in the Galaxy academy. “But, I’ll always be ready and prepared for whatever comes.”
A victory over Belgium would send the U.S. to the quarterfinals of a World Cup for just the second time. It would also give it four wins in the tournament, double the number of victories in any previous World Cup and marking the first time the Americans have won twice in the knockout stages in the same tournament.
U.S. forward Ricardo Pepi pursues the ball during a World Cup match against Bosnia-Herzegovina at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara , Calif., on Wednesday.
(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)
It’s a moment, Adams acknowledged Friday, many players have waited for their whole lives.
“You need to embrace the moment, that’s for sure,” he said. “To have the opportunity to play in a round-of-16 game — which, obviously, last World Cup we did, but it was the first knockout game, not the second — it’s exciting. It was nice to get a little bit of a taste of what it feels like to play with something a little bit more on the line in the last game. I think that’s good preparation.
“Advancing and taking this thing as far as we can is the most important thing. We have a good opportunity here to do so.”
Sports
Knicks champion says he hopes ‘truth comes out’ after leaving team for Eastern Conference rival
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The New York Knicks’ first championship team in 53 years is now starting to look a little bit different.
They were able to hang on to Jose Alvarado, but the first domino to fall was defensive big man Mitchell Robinson, who signed a three-year deal with the Boston Celtics.
Several of Robinson’s now-former teammates, including Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart and OG Anunoby, commented on his farewell post on Instagram, but Robinson’s response to Anunoby was rather telling.
Mitchell Robinson is seen outside City Hall at the New York Knicks ticker-tape parade on June 18, 2026 in New York City. (XNY/Star Max/GC Images)
Anunoby commented with a sad emoji, and Robinson said he “tried” to get back with the Knicks, hinting the feeling was not mutual.
“I tried brother I didn’t want this to happen hopefully the truth comes out at some point. I’m gonna miss you big dawg! Keep being great,” Robinson replied.
Team owner James Dolan said almost immediately after the Knicks won the title that he had no interest in going into the NBA’s second apron of payroll, calling it “suicidal.”
Mitchell Robinson of the New York Knicks celebrates after winning the NBA Finals against the San Antonio Spurs during Game 5 of the 2026 NBA Finals on June 13, 2026 at Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, Texas. (Jesse D. Garrabrant /NBAE via Getty Images)
KNICKS OWNER APPEARS TO TAKE SWIPE AT MAMDANI AT NBA CHAMPIONSHIP CELEBRATION, STIFFS PHOTO OP WITH HIM
That alone was enough to tell fans that a roster reconstruction was en route, especially with Brunson eventually set to make up for the massive pay cut he took to help the Knicks win it all.
Robinson grabbed the final offensive rebound off a missed free throw that all but clinched the Knicks’ title against the San Antonio Spurs last month.
Robinson saw both the good and the bad with the Knicks as a second-round draft pick in 2018; in his first season, they were 17-65.
Mitchell Robinson of the New York Knicks talks to the media after the game against the San Antonio Spurs during Game 5 of the 2026 NBA Finals on June 13, 2026 at Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, Texas. (Jacob Gonzalez/NBAE via Getty Images)
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But now, he will head to an apparent re-tooling Celtics team as a champion.
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