But lockout may cancel games: Game times for the New Orleans Saints’ preseason schedule have been set. Whether the games will be played at all remains in question because of the ongoing NFL lockout. However, if the games go on as planned, New Orleans will open at home on Aug. 12 at 7 p.m. against the San Francisco 49ers. The Saints would then travel to meet the Houston Texans Aug. 20 at 7 p.m., followed by a game at Oakland Aug. 29 at 7 p.m. that will be televised nationally by NBC. The Saints are slated to wrap up the preseason with a home game against Tennessee Sept. 1 at 7 p.m. The NFL already had released preseason opponents, but dates and times of the games were not released until today.
Will offer deals to concerts and shows: Concert promoter Live Nation Entertainment and online deal site Groupon are forming a venture to develop a ticketing deal website called GrouponLive. Financial terms were not disclosed. The site is expected to go live ahead of the summer concert season. Groupon, a rapidly growing service based in Chicago that offers hundreds of daily discounts in 500 markets, and Los Angeles-based Live Nation, which acquired Ticketmaster last year, say the site will offer deals on tickets to concerts as well as sports, theater, arts and other live events. Led by Groupon, daily-deal ticket sites have proliferated over the past year. Live Nation boosted ticket sales in the first three months of the year, thanks to price cuts and a slew of A-list acts going on sale, including U2, Prince and Lady Gaga. But sales in mid-April started to slow, which may lead to more discounted tickets.
