University of New Orleans ScholarWorks@UNO University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations Dissertations and Theses Spring 5-18-2012 We are the 'Who Dat' Nation: city identity, narratives of renewal, and football fandom in New Orleans public realm Casey Knoettgen University of New Orleans, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.uno.edu/td Part of the Other Sociology Commons, and the Urban Studies Commons Recommended Citation Knoettgen, Casey, "We are the 'Who Dat' Nation: city identity, narratives of renewal, and football fandom in New Orleans public realm" (2012). University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations. 1454. https://scholarworks.uno.edu/td/1454 This Dissertation is protected by copyright and/or related rights. It has been brought to you by ScholarWorks@UNO with permission from the rights-holder(s). 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We are the ‘Who Dat’ Nation: city identity, narratives of renewal, and football fandom in New Orleans public realm A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the University of New Orleans in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Urban Studies by Casey Knoettgen B.A. University of Central Florida, 2002 M.S.B.M University of Central Florida, 2004 M.B.A. University of Central Florida, 2004 May, 2012 Acknowledgements I deeply appreciate all who supported me throughout my adventures as a doctoral student. I am thankful for the dedication shown by my advisor, Dr. Renia Ehrenfeucht. She invested countless hours meeting with me, talking through research problems, reading numerous drafts, and coming to accept that football can be an interesting topic. I never felt like I was alone and am grateful for the attention she has given to me and my research. I would like to recognize my dissertation committee members, Dr. Marla Nelson, Dr. Vern Baxter and Dr. Fritz Polite for the time and intellectual support they offered me. Their questions and observations challenged me to take my work to the next level. Lauren Lastrapes and Kelly Owens, my fellow cohorts and dissertation support group, helped me through the process of getting this manuscript written and complete. Having someone to share the excitement and frustration of dissertation research with was invaluable. I am thankful for the support I received from my family. My mom, Jennifer Beaver, always encouraged me to pursue courses of action that made me happy, even when that meant going back to school and back to post-Katrina New Orleans. I am also grateful that my husband, Matthew Schreiber, remained patient and supportive even at times when all I had to show for an entire days work was one paragraph. Dr. Richard Lapchick first sparked my interest in sport and social issues. Without his inspiration this research topic would never have existed. Finally I would like to thank New Orleans Saints fans for being intriguing, infinitely fascinating, and passionate about their team and their city. I appreciated the opportunity to see the Who Dat Nation in action and to tell a piece of their story. ii Table of Contents List of Illustrations ....................................................................................................................... v Abstract...................................................................................................................................... vi CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................. 1 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW .......................................................................................10 Sport and the Industrial City: historical perspectives ..............................................................12 Public Investments in Stadiums: economic benefits? .............................................................14 Political Economy of Urban Sports: growth machines, team relocation, and questions of value ..............................................................................................................................................21 The Post-Industrial City: revitalize through cultural entertainment development ....................25 Exchange Values and Use Values: searching for the preciousness in commodities ..............29 Collective Identities: fandom, consumers and ‘glocal’ conflicts ..............................................32 NFL Cities: the American sports culture .................................................................................43 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................44 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY AND RESEARCH DESIGN ....................................................46 Research Questions ..............................................................................................................46 The Case Study Research Design .........................................................................................46 Data Collection Strategies .....................................................................................................47 Data Analysis Procedures .....................................................................................................55 Clarifying Limitations: the researchers role and generalizing results ......................................57 CHAPTER 4: WHEN THE SAINTS CAME MARCHING IN: The rise of the NFL and the history of the Saints in New Orleans .....................................................................................................60 Professional Football in America: forming the National Football League ................................60 New Orleans, an NFL city: 1960 - 2005 .................................................................................63 CHAPTER 5: FROM SHELTER OF LAST RESORT TO WHO DAT SPORT: How New Orleans built a narrative of renewal around Saints football .....................................................................76 The Shelter of Last Resort .....................................................................................................79 They’re Home, There’s Hope .................................................................................................85 We Have Endured the American Nightmare, It’s Our Turn to Live the American Dream ........92 Believe, Believe, Believe: the role of Saints football in New Orleans recovery ..................... 103 CHAPTER 6: WE ARE THE WHO DAT NATION: collective identity and interaction among football watchers ..................................................................................................................... 113 The game day experience ................................................................................................... 115 iii Beyond game day: collective identity and everyday practice ............................................... 122 Building relationships ........................................................................................................... 127 Community cohesion and racial barriers .............................................................................. 131 CHAPTER 7: FROM HOME TO DOME: Fandom, Gender and Public Space ......................... 142 Gendered spaces in sports fandom ..................................................................................... 144 Public social spaces ............................................................................................................ 149 Navigating public space on game day ................................................................................. 152 The Superdome ................................................................................................................... 160 Neighborhood bars .............................................................................................................. 164 Challenging gendered spaces for a new definition of fandom .............................................. 173 CHAPTER 8: SPORT CULTURE AS COMMODITY: adaptations of commercialism in fan culture ............................................................................................................................................... 180 City image and investment in sports commodities ............................................................... 182 NFL Kickoff Weekend: local celebration or commercial product? ......................................... 184 Fan interpretations of economic impact ............................................................................... 191 Local fandom within a national product ................................................................................ 196 I Own Who Dat .................................................................................................................... 200 CHAPTER 9: Concluding Remarks and Research Implications .............................................. 205 References ............................................................................................................................