David Dixon

Who was David Dixon?

David Dixon was an American businessman and sports executive who helped create the New Orleans Saints NFL team, the Louisiana Superdome, World Championship Tennis and the United States Football League. An alumnus of Tulane University, Dixon created the New Orleans Professional Football Club, Inc., to lobby for an NFL or an AFL franchise for that city starting in 1962.

In the 1961 season the Oakland Raiders finished 1-13, but their starting quarterback was a rookie named Daryle Lamonica, and several other future Hall of Fame players were on that team, as well. The owner decided to sell the team to Dixon for $236,000, and the team would have become the New Orleans Raiders; however, the mayor of Oakland interceded and helped put a group together and the team remained in Oakland.

After persuading the AFL to play its 1965 All-Star game in New Orleans, Dixon experienced a setback when black players encountered discrimination in the French Quarter. The AFL moved the game to Houston. Later in the year, Dixon first proposed a football league, also called the USFL, that would play its games in the spring rather than the fall.