Editing New Orleans Saints (section)

===Early history===
Local sports entrepreneur [[David Dixon (businessman)|Dave Dixon]] and a local civic group had been seeking an NFL franchise for over five years and had hosted record crowds for NFL exhibition games. To seal the NFL–AFL merger, NFL Commissioner [[Pete Rozelle]] arrived in New Orleans within a week, and announced on November 1, 1966, that the NFL officially had awarded the city of [[New Orleans]] an expansion franchise.<ref name=sdcwbglp/><ref name=milwsntlf/> The team was named for "[[When the Saints Go Marching In]]", the classic [[jazz]] standard associated with New Orleans.<ref name="q473">{{cite web | last=Kozlowski | first=Joe | title=Why are the New Orleans Saints called the Saints? | website=Newsweek | date=2023-10-19 | url=https://www.newsweek.com/why-are-new-orleans-saints-called-saints-1836151 | access-date=2024-08-20}}</ref> When the deal was reached a week earlier, Dixon strongly suggested to Rozelle that the announcement be delayed until November 1, to coincide with [[All Saints' Day]]. Dixon cleared the name with New Orleans' Archbishop [[Philip Hannan|Philip M. Hannan]], who "thought it would be a good idea," according to Dixon. "He had an idea the team was going to need all the help it could get."<ref>{{cite web |last=Mule |first=Marty |url=http://www.nola.com/news/index.ssf/2010/08/dave_dixon_driving_force_behin.html |title=Dave Dixon, driving force behind Superdome, dies |work=[[Times-Picayune]] |date=February 8, 2010 |access-date=September 22, 2010 |archive-date=August 25, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180825143213/https://www.nola.com/news/index.ssf/2010/08/dave_dixon_driving_force_behin.html |url-status=live }}</ref>