Saints game day traditions start long before kickoff and last well past the final whistle. A home Sunday in New Orleans means a pot on the stove and a second line of fans moving toward the Dome, with somebody's cousin yelling "Who Dat" at a stranger who yells it right back.
We've been printing shirts for these people (ourselves included) behind the counter on Magazine Street and Chartres Street for twenty years. Here's what game day looks like from the inside.
Who Dat, and Where It Came From
Every Saints fan knows the chant. Fewer know how old it is.
According to WWL-TV, the roots of "Who Dat" go back more than 160 years. It showed up at Southern University games in the 1960s and later at St. Augustine High School before it ever reached the Saints.
The Saints version arrived in 1983, when Steve and Sal Monistere produced a song and music video with Aaron Neville and a handful of Saints offensive linemen. WWL reports that fans started singing it in crowds, it faded during some lean years, and it came roaring back during the run to the Super Bowl in the 2009 season.
So when you yell it, you're borrowing from a long line of people who yelled it first. Do it loud.
Get There Early
Nobody here arrives at kickoff. If the game's at noon, the day starts with coffee and a cooler.
Champions Square, the plaza next to the Caesars Superdome, opens hours before home games with music and a crowd that's been warming up since breakfast. For the October 5, 2026 Domecoming game against the Falcons, marking 20 years since the Dome reopened after Katrina, WLOX reported that Champions Square opened at 4 p.m. and Steve Gleason led a second line from Lafayette Square to the plaza. If you need a refresher on how a second line works, you walk with it.
That same WLOX guide is a good reminder of the bag rule. The Superdome follows the NFL's clear bag policy, with clear bags up to 12 by 6 by 12 inches allowed and no bag check on site. Learn it before you're standing at the gate holding a purse you now have to walk back to the car.
Plenty of fans never go inside at all. They tailgate on a neutral ground, in a parking lot, in a friend's driveway or on a porch two blocks from the Dome, and watch the game on a TV run off an extension cord. A good go-cup is mandatory.
Red Beans on a Sunday
Red beans belong to Monday. Everybody knows that. But nobody's going to call the authorities if you start a pot on Sunday morning so it's ready by halftime.
Game-day food here is house-party food. Gumbo when it finally cools off. Jambalaya in a pan big enough to bathe a toddler. Nobody brings a salad, and if they do, it goes untouched.
Dress for It
Game day is a costume, and we take that seriously.
The NOLA X shirt is our standard. It's a mark of the heart of the city, and it looks right in a crowd of black and gold. For the fan who prays a little harder in the fourth quarter, Saint Victoré is our patron saint of touchdowns. And when the Falcons come to town, There Is A House In New Orleans finishes the lyric for you: they call it the Superdome, and all Falcons should go home.
The rest of the wardrobe is in our Saints fans collection, and the full game-day dress code is in our post on what to wear to a Saints game.
Superstitions, Loosely Held
Ask around and you'll hear plenty of them. A lucky shirt that doesn't get washed during a winning streak. A seat on the couch nobody else is allowed to sit in. A specific beer opened at a specific minute. The same pregame phone call to the same friend, every week, for a decade.
None of it works, and all of it is mandatory. If the Saints lose, it's because somebody moved. Everybody knows this.
Losing Gracefully (or Not)
This city has had practice at losing. In 1980, the Saints won one game, and fans started wearing paper bags over their heads and calling the team the "Aints." According to WWL-TV, bartender Bobby LeCompte came up with the idea at Buddy D's in Metairie with sportscaster Buddy Diliberto, and LeCompte said he got the inspiration from the Unknown Comic on The Gong Show.
The bags were a joke, but they were also loyalty. You don't put a bag on your head for a team you've stopped caring about.
Some weeks, the bags come back in spirit. A bad loss means a quiet Monday at work and a lot of people staring at their red beans. Then Wednesday comes, somebody says "next week," and we're back.
It's Bigger Than Football
The Superdome is where a lot of people rode out Katrina in 2005, and it's where the Saints came home in 2006. Fans who were there for that first game back still talk about it. That's part of why Domecoming hit the way it did this October, twenty years later.
A Saints game is one of the few places where the whole city sits in the same room. Uptown and the East, Metairie and the Bywater, people who agree on nothing else. For three hours they want the same thing.
That's the tradition, really. The rest is just snacks.
Saints Game Day Traditions: FAQ
Where did the "Who Dat" chant come from?
WWL-TV traces "Who Dat" back more than 160 years, with use at Southern University in the 1960s and later at St. Augustine High School. It became a Saints anthem with a 1983 song featuring Aaron Neville and Saints players.
Why did Saints fans wear paper bags?
During the 1980 season, when the Saints won only one game, fans began wearing paper bags over their heads and calling the team the "Aints." WWL-TV credits Buddy D's bartender Bobby LeCompte and sportscaster Buddy Diliberto with starting it.
Where do Saints fans tailgate?
Champions Square next to the Caesars Superdome opens before home games, and many fans tailgate in nearby lots or at home. The Superdome follows the NFL's clear bag policy, so plan your bag before you go.
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