Report: Saints Draft Headquarters Moves To Brewery In New Orleans East
Many football fans cooped up in their homes will be ready to watch the NFL Draft on April 23-25th will consume beer while consuming the Draft.
New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton and several staff members have set up shop at Dixie Brewing Company in New Orleans East for their NFL Draft headquarters, according to ESPN NFL Reporter Mike Triplett.
The Brewery is owned by Saints and Pelicans owner Gayle Benson.
Per Triplett, Payton is joined there by GM Mikey Loomis, assistant GM Jeff Ireland a three or four other staff members for the Draft, with all taking proper CDC precautions, maintaining a safe social distance and taking their temperature when arriving on site.
The rest of the necessary staff (scouts, assistant coaches) are not physically present but are there via a video feed.
"This facility is fantastic," Payton said. "There's no one out here. We have our board set up, we've got seven monitors. ... We're certainly distanced away from each other. There's plenty of space. And then the monitors have all the scouts and everyone else, so the total people [involved] in the meeting might be 20."
In my opinion, this is a brilliant marketing tool by Benson.
Dixie Beer will get millions of dollars in free advertising during the NFL Draft, as the TV networks reference the Brewery anytime they talk about the Saints Draft headquarters and anytime they interview Payton or Loomis.
Plus, expect the talking heads to yuck it up with the media laughs and one-liners about the Saints staff celebrating the draft with beer.