The New Orleans Saints are a National Football League team based in New Orleans, Louisiana. The Saints is one of four teams that play in the South Division of the National Football Conference (NFC). New Orleans was granted an NFL franchise on November 1, 1966, which appropraitely was All Saints Day. New Orleans was famous worldwide as the city of jazz and the famous marching song, “When the Saints Go Marching In.” John W. Mecom, Jr. became the majority stockholder, and the team was named the Saints on January 9, 1967.Despite a 94 yard opening kickoff return for a touchdown by John Gilliam, the Saints lost their first game 27-13 to the Los Angeles Rams. Their first season record was 3-11, and they could not manage to even finish as high as second in their division until 1979.Under head coach Jim Mora, the Saints achieved their first winning record and their first playoff appearance in 1987. A former defensive coodinator for the New England Patriots, Mora was named NFL coach of the year.

The New Orleans are currently owned by Tom Benson, who bought the franchise in 1985. Benson also owns the Arena Football League team the New Orleans VooDoo, who will begin play in 2004.The New Orleans have only one Hall of Fame inductee Jim Finks. Jim was an American sports executive primarily for American football. On January 14, 1986, Finks took charge of a New Orleans Saints team that never had experienced a winning season in its 19-year history. His first move was to hire a new coach, Jim Mora. Success came more quickly for Finks in New Orleans than it had in either Minnesota or Chicago. In just his second season, the Saints won 12 games for their first winning season ever. Finks was named NFL Executive of the Year for the second time.When NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle retired in 1989, Finks was at odds-on-choice to replace him. He was unanimously endorsed by the first committee of owners, but eventually another ownership group prevailed with their choice of Paul Tagliabue.Finks died in 1994 from lung cancer and was selected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1995. The New Orlean Saints have retired the numbers #31 Jim Taylor and #81 Doug Atkins. The uniform consists of the colors Black, Old gold, and White. The helmet design is a gold helmet with a black fleur-de-lis. The team plays it's home games at Louisiana Superdome, which opened on September 28, 1975, and seats 69,028.