The New Orleans Saints will not be able to hold their 2024 training camp at their home facility and will have to relocate to California instead.

Announcement from the New Orleans Saints. The franchise has announced that it will hold its 2024 training camp at the University of California. The reason is construction work on their home cafeteria.

The Saints have already started renovating the cafeteria and the weight room in 2023.

In the 2023 Players Association survey, the team only received a grade of F- in the area of food and nutrition, which was tied for last place among all NFL teams. In 2024, the survey resulted in a grade of F, equivalent to 30th place.

“Owner Gayle Benson and our organization have invested in building a new cafeteria that, when completed, will be among the best in the NFL. The scope of this project makes it difficult to hold training camp on site in 2024,” General Manager Mickey Loomis announced in a press release.

But: According to Saints president Dennis Lauscha, the modernization of the cafeteria has “zero” to do with the survey. “We’ve been planning to improve the cafeteria and kitchen for some time. They are over 20 years old. They needed to be changed and upgraded.”

He continued, “We want to have the best facilities. We want to be able to recruit and attract players, and for that you need good facilities.”

Incidentally, this is not the first time that the Saints have held at least part of their training camp in California. Among other things, they spent joint training sessions with the LA Chargers in Costa Mesa from 2017 to 2019 and in 2022 and 2023.