The New Orleans Saints landed at Charles de Gaulle Airport on Monday morning, October 19, and the league’s man in charge of the Paris Game used the occasion to remove any doubt about Sunday. “It’s full speed ahead at this point, we don’t see any reason to be otherwise,” said Brett Gosper, the NFL’s head of Europe and Asia-Pacific. “That’s the intelligence that we’re getting.”
Gosper said the league has been watching the situation with its own security staff and in contact with local security officials and French police. “All is good from this point,” he said. “We’re going to keep monitoring things and making sure that we stay safe.” His comments, given to the Saints’ John DeShazier, are the clearest public statement yet that the Steelers–Saints game at Stade de France on Sunday, October 25, is going ahead as planned.
A weekend that raised the stakes
The reassurance follows the worst of the unrest so far. At least 1,800 people were arrested across France over the weekend as protests over living costs and school conditions turned violent, 855 of them in the Paris region according to the city’s police. Authorities counted about 550,000 marchers nationwide and organizers about 800,000. Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said more than 500 police officers, gendarmes and firefighters were hurt.
Looting was reported around Place de la République, roughly five miles south of the stadium in Saint-Denis, and in Limoges the 19th-century city hall was badly damaged by a fire officials said was set deliberately. The U.S. State Department has France at Level 2 of its four-step travel scale, advising Americans to exercise increased caution because of terrorism and unrest and to stay away from demonstrations.
On Sunday night Emmanuel Macron gave regional prefects and mayors the power to ban certain gatherings. No restriction affecting Saint-Denis, the stadium or the week’s fan events has been announced.
How the Saints are handling the week
New Orleans flew straight from New Jersey after its 34–27 win over the Giants and is based on the outskirts of Versailles, about 40 minutes from central Paris. Kellen Moore said the players were able to walk around the field and get a light lift in on arrival, and the team returns to Stade de France for an in-stadium walk-through on Saturday.
“I think the acclimation thing is important, for our guys to get here and have a couple of days to get acclimated,” Moore said. “And then it allows us to have a normal work flow. Wednesday through Sunday really is going to be as normal as possible.”
There are no organized team outings in the city. Moore said players are free to share a meal or spend time outside at their own discretion. “Our guys are smart, they understand this is still a business trip,” he said. “At the same time, there’ll be a little bit of time for these guys to explore and I think that’s an important part of this thing.”
Tight end Juwan Johnson said the message among players is simple. “Just being safe is obviously the biggest thing,” he said. “Some guys have family here — some guys have their parents, their kids and things like that. The biggest thing is just travel in groups.” He added: “As outsiders, we just want to be as safe as possible and keep our families and keep our teammates safe.”
Safety Justin Reid told Armando Salguero he plans to use Tuesday’s day off to watch Paris Saint-Germain play Barcelona at the Parc des Princes, an outing the French club has built into its week with the league. “It’ll just be, ‘keep it low-key, keep it fun,’ do things as a group, do things as a team,” Reid said. “We want to enjoy being in Paris and seeing things, but I don’t think many of us are very interested in getting into the mix that deeply.”
The Steelers stay home until Thursday
Pittsburgh is taking the opposite approach: a normal practice week at home, departing on Thursday and arriving in France on Friday. Mike McCarthy said on Monday he is “obviously very aware” of the situation and has been in contact with the league. “We feel like we have a really good plan, we’re aware of the situations over there and have a lot of confidence in our plan,” he said.
The Steelers (4–2) arrive off an overtime win in Tampa, 26–19; the Saints (2–4) snapped a three-game losing streak against the Giants. New Orleans is the designated home team.
What else is new for game week
Paris Saint-Germain and the league launched a joint “Football is football” program on Monday. Its centerpiece is a pair of limited stitched jerseys made by Fanatics with Nike, both carrying the number 75 for Paris: a royal blue Paris Red & Blue edition and a burgundy-and-gold Monogram edition that Alvin Kamara unveiled after the Giants game. They cost €210, went on sale on October 19, and a PSG x Saints clothing capsule follows on October 22.
The French club is also planning a Hail Mary pass over the Seine with its handball team at the Petit Pont near Île de la Cité on Friday, October 23, and a free talk with PSG brand chief Fabien Allègre at the NFL House on rue Cambon that afternoon at 3 p.m. Paris time. An original EP by MYD and Antoine Bouchot with New Orleans brass band The Soul Rebels is the soundtrack to the tie-up. Girls from the club’s Allez les Filles program will attend the game on Sunday.
For viewers in France, the game will be shown live on France 2 and beIN SPORTS. NFL France also announced on Monday that French streamer Domingo will carry the full game free on his YouTube and Twitch channels, with coverage from 2 p.m., a reporter at the stadium and guests in his studio. It is the league’s first live-rights agreement with a French content creator.
Key dates this week
- Tuesday, October 20: Saints players attend PSG vs. Barcelona at the Parc des Princes
- Friday, October 23: Hail Mary over the Seine; NFL House opens on rue Cambon (free with registration, also October 24); the Steelers arrive
- Saturday, October 24: Saints walk-through inside Stade de France
- Sunday, October 25: Steelers vs. Saints, kickoff 2:30 p.m. Paris time, 9:30 a.m. ET, 4:30 p.m. in Cairo; Burna Boy performs at halftime
Note that France moves its clocks back one hour early on Sunday morning, so the 2:30 p.m. kickoff is two hours behind Cairo on game day, not one.
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