NEW ORLEANS -- The New Orleans Saints announced they are moving their 2024 training camp to the University of California, Irvine due to construction of their new cafeteria.
The Saints began renovating their cafeteria and weight room in 2023. The Saints received an F-minus on the NFL Players Association report card in 2023 for their food services/nutrition, which was tied for 30th and ranked in last place in the NFL. They also received an F in 2024 on their food/cafeteria grade, ranking 30th for that year.
"Currently, [owner Gayle Benson] and our organization have invested in the construction of a new cafeteria, that when completed, will be among the finest in the National Football League. The scope of this project makes it difficult to host training camp on-site in 2024, given the extensive needs for our team to prepare for the regular season," Saints general manager Mickey Loomis said in a news release Friday.
The Saints received an A-minus grade for their weight room in 2023 and a B in 2024.
The cafeteria upgrades had "zero" to do with the report card, Saints president Dennis Lauscha said at the league's annual meeting in March.
"It's nothing against their survey, but we had it on the books for a while to improve the cafeteria, improve the cooking area," Lauscha said. "That cooking area and that cafeteria, although we still think it's new for some of the folks that have been there, it's over 20 years old. It had to be changed, it had to be upgraded. ... We want to have the best facilities. We want to be able to recruit and attract players, and in order to that, you have to have good facilities."
The Saints have not held their entire training camp at another location since a stint at the Greenbrier resort in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, from 2014 to 2016.
They returned to their practice facility in Metairie in 2017 and plan to hold training camp at home in 2025 when the renovations are complete.
"We don't have a cafeteria right now, we don't have cooking right now. We're upgrading all of those things, upgrading our weight lifting facilities," Lauscha said. "We can't get it all done by the start of training camp. I fully expect to be back in Metairie the following year when all the renovations are done.
The Saints have held portions of their training camp in California multiple times. They spent a week in Oxnard, California, in 2011 and held joint practices with the Los Angeles Chargers in Costa Mesa from 2017 to 2019 and in 2022 and 2023.
The Los Angeles Rams most recently used the site in Irvine for their training camp from 2021 to '23.