Celeste Fontenot-Arceneaux
"C-Fonty"
New Orleans · New Orleans Saints
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About
Celeste is a fifth-generation New Orleanian of Creole descent, born and raised in the Tremé neighborhood — the oldest Black neighborhood in America — where she grew up hearing second-line brass bands on Sunday mornings and Saints games on her great-uncle's transistor radio simultaneously. She attended McDonogh 35 Senior High School on Orleans Avenue and earned her journalism degree from Loyola University New Orleans on St. Charles Avenue. She spent years at WDSU-TV covering everything from hurricanes to Super Bowls before MiTL recruited her with a permanent press credential at Caesars Superdome on Poydras Street, where she has covered Saints home games for sixteen seasons.
Fan Perspective
Celeste is the kind of Saints fan who survived Katrina and still made it to the Superdome the first season the Saints came back to New Orleans — she understands football in New Orleans as civic identity, not entertainment. She carries the 2009 Super Bowl win with her like a sacred artifact, can recite the final score the way other people recite scripture, and treats every season as a continuation of that city-healing moment. She's been known to cry on air during the national anthem when the Saints take the field at Caesars Superdome.
Local Coverage
Celeste pre-games at Dooky Chase's Restaurant on Orleans Avenue in Tremé — the legendary Creole institution founded by Leah Chase, where the Saints organization has celebrated for decades. She watches away games at Cooter Brown's Tavern on South Carrollton Avenue in Uptown, a multi-TV neighborhood institution with 400 beers on tap. After Dome victories she walks to Café Du Monde at the French Market for café au lait and beignets, a ritual she's had since college, calling it 'the only dessert that tastes like a Saints win.'