The National Football League today announced that the New Orleans Saints will kick off the preseason when they play the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday, August 5 in the 2012 Hall of Fame Game at Fawcett Stadium in Canton, Ohio. The game will be televised nationally on the NFL Network with kickoff scheduled for 7 p.m. CST.

This will be the fifth time that the Saints have been one of the featured teams in the Hall of Fame game and first since a 20-7 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers on August 5, 2007. New Orleans has a 1-3 record in their four previous Hall of Fame Game appearances.

The Saints and the Cardinals will take the field the day after the class of 2012 is formally enshrined into the Pro Football Hall of Fame during ceremonies held at Fawcett Stadium on Saturday, August 4. Among the enshrinees will be T William Roaf, who was a first round draft pick of the Saints in 1993. Roaf played for the Black and Gold for nine seasons and was an annual Pro Bowl selection at left tackle from 1994-2000, setting a franchise record with seven selections. New Orleans personnel consultant Cortez Kennedy will also be enshrined based on an 11-year career with the Seattle Seahawks, where he recorded 58 sacks and eight Pro Bowl selections. The enshrine class will also include CB Jack Butler, C Dermontti Dawson, DE Chris Doleman and RB Curtis Martin.

Roaf will be the sixth Saint to be enshrined into the Hall of Fame. Two of these enshrinees, General Manager Jim Finks (1995) and LB Rickey Jackson (2010) spent significant portions of their careers with the Saints.

Tickets for the game are priced at $67, $62, and $52, and will go on sale March 13. Additional information on both the Pro Football Hall of Fame Game and the 2012 Enshrinement Ceremony including Enshrinement Festival fan packages can be found on Profootballhof.com