The SPAR / Saints Parallel

Posted on January 26, 2007 | Permalink

by Keith C. Maresma

The infamous date of August 29, 2005 changed so many lives in the city of New Orleans. Thousands of individuals, businesses, and teams were affected. Although many people were affected by the devastation, most had a different story to tell. But, there were some stories that were eerily similar…

On that fateful day, SPAR’s offices were destroyed when 12 inches of Katrina floodwater ravaged through, and then rested in our building for over a week.

That same Katrina floodwater damaged the Louisiana Superdome, as well as The New Orleans Saints practice facility.

Employees of SPAR fled to various parts of the U.S.. We worked from those distant cities for a month, finally returning home and working from our new “Home-Satellite” offices.

At the same time, with the Louisiana Superdome under construction, the vagabond New Orleans Saints moved their organization temporarily to Texas, and played their “home” games on the road.

Right after the storm, SPAR, Inc. lost some business from a few long-time clients.

The Saints complained about conditions in Texas and completed a depressing 3 win, 13 loss season.

In the beginning of 2006, we moved back into our repaired office building without the luxury of furniture. We kept pushing our new business efforts forward and landed a few promising new clients who immediately injected a newfound enthusiasm, as well as needed business, into the organization. At the end of 2006, SPAR had increased its business to well above pre-Katrina numbers marking one of the biggest turnarounds in company history.

At the same time, the Saints hired promising new head coach Sean Payton, who made one of the biggest off-season free agent acquisitions in franchise history (see: Drew Brees). Couple that with a fruitful draft (translation: Reggie Bush, and others), and the organization was also injected with a newfound enthusiasm. This newly inspired team steamrolled throughout the 2006 season finishing with a 10 – 6 record, and tops of their division. They set a record for the biggest franchise turnaround in NFL history.

The beginning of 2007 saw the continued success of SPAR, as the steady stream of business continued to flow through the shop.

The Saints continued their success by defeating the Philadelphia Eagles in the second round of the playoffs. Though they lost the NFC Championship game, there is still a renewed confidence heading into spring training and continuing into the 2007 season. For the first time in franchise history, there is a waiting list for season tickets.

Both organizations had very similar stories since Hurrican Katrina hit. And, it seems as though SPAR, as well as the Saints, are riding a wonderful wave of success. Both are looking forward to riding that success through 2007 and beyond.

We’re confident that SPAR will do its part. Let’s hope that the Saints can keep up!