NEW ORLEANS — The ritual of Saints football went on almost as normal. R. Tony Ricard, the pastor at St. Gabriel the Archangel Roman Catholic Church and a New Orleans Saints chaplain, ended Mass at 10:30 a.m., a neat hour after it began, dispensing with one Sunday rite before the second, a late afternoon home game against the Tom Brady Buccaneers, took hold of the deeply Catholic city. The emptiness lent an eeriness to the already dystopian feel of football’s return without one of its most loyal congregations. What is football’s game day ritual without fans? A made-for-TV event, a presentation meant for the broadest range of consumers, across the highest-bidding platforms.

Source: New York Times September 14, 2020 09:00 UTC