The Superdome has seen many changes this year – renovations on the lower levels, the addition of “Mercedes-Benz” to the exterior and interior facades of the building, and purple lights to illuminate it at night. All good, but why does the Dome remain a black hole of information on game day? In the Information Age, the Mercedes-Benz Superdome treats almost everything that happens as a state secret. Tracy Porter was on the field for 10 minutes, but up in Section 649, we only knew it was Porter by rumor – and I’m sure we weren’t alone. I don’t blame the Saints trainers who huddled over him, but how about a replay? Not violence porn, with him getting rocked again and again and again, but something to give us a clue why he was flat out, and who was flat out? How about feeding this information to Jerry Romig so he could tell us what is going on?

The Dome is one step removed from keeping score through a series of sliding discs on wires like in old-time pool halls by a balding, hunched man with a green eye-shade. At a point when fantasy football is a natural extension of fandom, stats for Saints games and other games throughout the NFL are kept safe from public view. Scores of other games are occasionally updated, but they’re kept on a scroll discretely out of the way and include games that aren’t playing during the Saints game. Is the Dome’s computer infrastructure so woefully dated that even that can’t keep a more appropriate scoreboard?

In today’s Times-Picayune, members of the defense talked about how important the fans are to the team’s performances. The fans are also some of the most absurdly patient because the information blackout isn’t limited to that which is presented in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. Wi-fi is brutal in the building, making it almost impossible to go to sources outside the Dome for information. It would be great if fans could share the experience of being at the game via Twitter and Facebook, but that would mean getting access to Twitter and Facebook – something those of us with AT&T can’t do.

In so many ways, the Saints are a truly contemporary football team. Is it too much to dream of a contemporary football experience when I’m at the game?