State Representative Mike Moffett (R-Loudon) write sports columns when he’s not chairing the House Committee on State-Federal Relations and Veterans Affairs.

Traveling around the country allows one to experience unique sports cultures of various cities and regions across America’s fruited plain. Sports tourism is real. For example, folks come to New England just to see Fenway Park, the Basketball Hall of Fame, or even Loudon’s NASCAR track.

Which bring us to New Orleans. The Crescent City. The Big Easy. The Paris of the South.

I recently visited N’Awlins, aka “The City That Care Forgot,” for an NCLGS Conference (National Council of Legislators for Gaming States). There was certainly a sports component to the confab, as most states now have legalized sports betting, including New Hampshire.

I was accompanied by distinguished State Senators Howard Pearl and Timothy Lang (the “Father of Granite State Sports Gaming”) to the “Birthplace of Jazz.” Lang was the prime mover behind legalizing sports betting in New Hampshire in 2019 and his expertise in the area brought him national renown. The senator from Sanbornton deserves much credit for bringing $137 million legal gambling dollars to state coffers since 2020, on their way to schools across New Hampshire.

Professional development, idea exchanges, and networking are valuable byproducts of such conventions. For example, I made it a point to attend a session on player harassment where the panel included NBC football analyst Eric Froton, former Kansas tight end DeShawn Hanika, and former NBA standout Randy Livingston. I didn’t realize the grief that athletes can get. Hanika shared that he’d received a Venmo request for $5K from an angry bettor who claimed Hanika cost him that amount when he dropped a pass in a big game.

Louisiana State University has a huge sports following in the Pelican State, aka the Bayou State, although Tulane University also has many fans. And while New Orleans doesn’t have an MLB or an NHL franchise, the Big Easy does have an NBA team, the Pelicans, who have the NBA’s worst record.

The Paris of the South was once home to the New Orleans Jazz, the hoop team, which abandoned the Crescent City for a different City of the Saints: Salt Lake City. The SLC NBA team incongruously kept the Jazz nickname, even though New Orleans is the birthplace of Jazz while SLC features the Great Salt Lake and the Wasatch Mountains.

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The gaming confab included a “field trip” to the New Orleans’ Fair Grounds Horse Track and Casino, owned by Churchill Downs, a conference sponsor. After a social media post, Lang received a request from a friend to bring horse racing and casino gambling to Salem, New Hampshire.

“Stand by,” replied Lang, with a smile on his face. “I have a bill.”

While we were in town, so too were the NFL’s Washington Commanders who were there to play the New Orleans Saints, who can claim one Super Bowl victory since 1967, which is one more than 12 other NFL teams and five less than the Patriots.

In the interests of self-education and cultural awareness, we also made several visits to legendary Bourbon Street. The energy, the music, the food, and the other sights and sounds were amazing. NFL fans clad in Washington Commander garb were everywhere, a great example of sports tourism. One can see why NFL fans might want to do a December road trip to see their heroes play in New Orleans, as opposed to, say, Green Bay?

We lamented that we’d neglected to extend our stay one more night to watch the Saints host the Commanders at the Super Dome. But we did place bets on New Orleans to cover the spread. It seemed like a courteous thing to do for our wonderful host city. We watched the game at the airport. A touchdown with no time left cut a Washington lead to 20-19. A Saint two-point conversion attempt failed, but the team covered the spread.

Ah yes. Easy money in The Big Easy. We’ll reinvest our profits in the Granite State. For the children.

Go Saints! (and Pelicans too!)