The Guardian and WWL Louisiana found emails showing top officials at the NFL’s Saints and NBA’s Pelicans working with the New Orleans Catholic archdiocese to manage a clergy-abuse scandal. The emails raised questions about the sports teams’ involvement in the scandal. The investigation revealed that Saints and Pelicans spokesperson Greg Bensel had conversations with New Orleans district attorney Leon Cannizzaro to remove certain names from the list of clergy abusers. However, Cannizzaro denied having such conversations. Bensel also offered crisis communication services to the church with the permission of team owner Gayle Benson. He coordinated with Archbishop Aymond on media messaging and reached out to local media outlets to highlight the church’s actions. Despite claims of operating in a personal capacity, Bensel used his team email for communications. He sought feedback and support from influential allies, including Benson, Lauscha, and Zainey. Coordination between the teams and the church continued even after a subpoena related to the clergy-abuse scandal. The teams provided public relations assistance to the church and engaged in media handling surrounding the release of the list of accused clergy members. Additionally, Bensel forwarded questions to a radio host for Aymond’s live interview on the day the clergy-abuser list was released. The host asked some of the suggested questions, letting Aymond answer the rest unprompted. Overall, the emails revealed close coordination between the sports teams and the church in managing media coverage of the clergy-abuse scandal. The investigation raised concerns about the extent of the teams’ involvement and their efforts to portray their role accurately.