MONDAY NIGHT SPECIAL SUPERDOME SET TO SHINE AGAIN SAINTS, STADIUM SEEN AS PART OF REBIRTH IN NEW ORLEANS.

Byline: BILLY WITZ Staff Writer

NEW ORLEANS -- At night this week, the Superdome is bathed in light, its now clean white roof serving as a beacon of promise.

When the New Orleans Saints return Monday night for their first game at home since Hurricane Katrina devastated the city a year ago, no longer is the Superdome a vision of despair and destruction.

Instead, the return of pro football and the reopening of the Superdome after a $185 million renovation that required nine months of nearly around- the-clock work is being portrayed as a sign of rebirth.

There to trumpet it will be former president George H. Bush, who will conduct the coin flip; rock bands U2 and Green Day, who will perform beforehand; and Super Bowl-esque media coverage.

If there's any question of how much fans missed their team, it was answered last week when the team announced that it had sold every ticket for the whole season - the first time that has happened in the franchise's 40-year history.

Amid the hoopla about football coming back, one question remains: for how long?

Even before the hurricane, the Saints were mentioned as a possible candidate to relocate to Los Angeles when owner Tom Benson raised concerns about the corporate community's ability to support the team and the state, which runs the Superdome, said it couldn't afford a lease that requires subsidies of up to $23.5 million per year to the team.

While the NFL contributed a $15 million grant to the rebuilding of the Superdome, it has been earmarked for improvements that will help the Saints generate revenue. Commissioner Roger Goodell has made no assurances about the team's future in New Orleans.

``That's the name of the deal,'' said Mike Whitsell, a developer whose father Dave was a Pro Bowler in the team's inaugural season. ``Every time the city has been asked to step up, you've got to -- like it or not.

``As long as the NFL wants to put a team in Los Angeles, it's not going to go away until they put a team in Los Angeles.''

The Saints lease, which includes an escape clause for the team after this season, expires after the 2010 season -- just when the NFL hopes to have a new stadium ready in Los Angeles.

``It's taken every inch of our focus to get ready for this game,'' said Rita Benson LeBlanc, the Saints executive vice president of administration and granddaughter of owner Tom Benson. ``There's no room, no time for anything else. We're actively taking the temperature of the market constantly just like every other business in New Orleans. But if you ask anybody else what their long-terms plans are, they're going to say, `Dude, I'm just trying to get through today.'''

Rebuilding the city will be a much longer and more difficult task than rebuilding the dome.

A recent report by the Brookings Institution detailed just how crippled the infrastructure remains a year after Katrina: half the hospitals in Orleans Parish had yet to reopen and 71 percent of city schools remained shuttered.

The local economy isn't any better. Anchored to tourism, it still was recovering from the 9/11 attacks when Katrina hit.

While the French Quarter, the Garden District, the Convention Center and Uptown neighborhood were largely spared by the hurricane, visitors haven't yet returned.

Hotels downtown have been operating at about 30 percent capacity, and many restaurants have reduced hours and shortened their menus - if they've opened at all.

``A lot of us are hanging by a thread,'' said Marie Parque, who has owned The Pearl Oyster Bar and Restaurant on St. Charles Avenue for nearly 25 years. ``We're a tourist city and there's no tourists.''

In spite of bumbling management and stumbling players, which have produced one playoff victory and six winning seasons in the team's history, the Saints always have been hugely popular here. Fans might have shown up with bags on their heads -- and dubbed the team the Aints - but they have shown up.

This season's sellout is attributed to stepped-up efforts to market the Gulf Coast region and passion that leads to stories of New Orleanians who can barely pay their rent but made sure to buy Saints tickets.

``A lot of it is pure patriotism,'' said Jim Richardson, an economics professor at LSU. ``People are saying `I will keep the Saints in New Orleans.' The question is: as the sense of patriotism wears down, what will you have?''

This is most important, Richardson and others say, in luring corporate clients. The economic model of NFL teams has shifted over the past decade, putting an increased emphasis on generating local revenues, which unlike the several billions generated each year from television contracts, are not split among the 32 teams.

In New Orleans, this is problematic since even in the best of times it's a city built on small businesses.

There are two Fortune 500 companies in the state - the same number that are in Calabasas.

``I have no doubt that the people will support this team,'' said Doug Thornton, who manages the Superdome. ``What I worry about is whether there will be the long-term corporate base.''

[e-mail]

[phone]

CAPTION(S):

photo, 8 boxes

Photo:

New Orleans running back Reggie Bush (USC) gets his first look at the Superdome.

Alex Brandon/Associated Press

Box:

(1) KEY STAT

(2) WHO'S HOT

(3) WHO'S COLD

(4) ROOKIE WATCH

(5) STANDINGS

(6) TODAY'S SCHEDULE

(7) DAILY NEWS/ CBS 2/ KCAL 9/ SPORTS CENTRAL POWER

- Billy Witz

(8) NFL WEEK THREE PREVIEW

- Dave Goldberg/AP