Superdome renovations done; NFL pleased with upgrades

It's "dome sweet dome" for the New Orleans Saints and their fans.

This weekend, the Black-and-Gold and their faithful followers will return to a newly- and fully-renovated Superdome during Friday's training camp practice and Sunday's preseason finale against the Tennessee Titans. Superdome officials expect fans to like what they see.

"It'll be the first time fans could be in the building to see the finished renovation," Superdome general manager Evan Holmes told the Louisiana Stadium and Exposition District Board on Wednesday.

According to Holmes the contractor who oversaw the renovation project left the building on Wednesday, the same day NFL officials inspected the changes. Holmes says Superdome workers are making some final touch-ups before the Superdome opens for Friday's practice and Sunday's game against Tennessee.

"Walking the concourse, you probably saw that a lot of the space is already set and ready to go," Holmes said to LSED members, who joined the NFL officials on Wednesday's tour. "We are in full clean and put-back-together mode."

Holmes says the calendar proved to be the contractors' friend in getting the work done ahead of the pro football season.

"We had a much longer timeline to get ready for the season this year than maybe in previous years, so we're taking full advantage of that," Holmes said.

According to Holmes, the NFL tour group was pleased with the improvements and are satisfied with the changes made to Super Bowl LIX's host stadium.

"All indications suggest that we're in a pretty good place right now," Holmes said. "The NFL is happy with the building, both in its current condition after the renovation--they're very excited to see how it operates given what it was back in 2013 in terms of the flow of folks getting in and out--but also just being able to accommodate the scale of the event as it's evolved since 2013 and since we've last seen it."