PARIS — The NFL expects the historic game between the New Orleans Saints and Pittsburgh Steelers here Sunday to be incident-free and unaffected by the political unrest in the city, a top league official said Tuesday.
“All systems go — totally all systems go,” said Brett Gosper, the head of Europe and Asia-Pacific for the NFL, from the league’s temporary downtown office. “We don’t believe what’s happening will affect game logistics, and we’re feeling good about the game going ahead on the weekend.”
Additionally, Gosper said the league has no contingency plan to move the game to another site.
“There’s been no conversations about that,” Gosper said. “And that’s how confident we are things will just proceed as planned.”
League officials are working closely with local law enforcement agencies to monitor the activities in the area, and Gosper said no demonstrations are planned for the Stade de France, where the game is scheduled to kick off at 8:30 a.m. CT. The stadium is located in Saint-Denis, about 5 miles north of the city center, and away from the area where most of the violent demonstrations have occurred.
The Saints arrived in town on Monday, following weekend violence that resulted in more than 1,000 arrests and damage across central Paris.
“We’re very aware of what’s happening,” Gosper said. “We’ve got alerts on our phones. The stadium is outside of the city, and at the moment, for now, there hadn’t been anything happening in that area, and we’re looking at it every day. So I think we’re in good shape for the game.”
Saints players, coaches and support staff are staying and practicing in Versailles, about 15 miles west of downtown Paris. Other club executives are housed in a downtown hotel near the Arc de Triomphe.
The league has a series of fan events scheduled in the city in the days leading up the game. Likewise, Saints owner Gayle Benson and city and state officials have daily social and business functions set for Wednesday through Saturday, including sessions coordinated by the Louisiana Department of Economic Development on Wednesday and Friday. All events are scheduled to continue as planned.
“We’re in constant contact with the security services, the police security, and we’ve got good engagement with them well before these incidents were happening, so we’re getting daily briefings from the police,” Gosper said. “(Fans have) got to be aware of what’s being announced, because these demonstrations are announced when they’re going to happen. And then at that point you can manage where you are and what you’re doing. These have happened in pockets of Paris and they’ve not been near the stadium where we’re operating and so on. But it’s just a matter of being vigilant if things are announced as to where you might be at that time. But nothing’s announced for the coming week. Nothing’s been confirmed. So we’re hoping we’ve got a clear runway now to the game and that there won’t be anything happening, but you’ve got to be alert and aware.”
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