Who Dat Owns 'Who Dat'? Dat's Us, Sez da NFL

By JENNIFER LEVITZ

For decades, even through a multitude of dismal seasons, New Orleans Saints fans have belted out a cheer they say is as much a part of the fabric of their city as jambalaya and jazz: "Who Dat Say Dey Gonna Beat Dem Saints? Who Dat? Who Dat?"

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Fans of the New Orleans Saints hold up a sign reading 'Who Dat Super Bowl' in support of the Saints outside the stadium against the Minnesota Vikings during the NFC Championship Game.

Now some are asking, "Who dat trying to spoil our fun?" The Saints' win last Sunday over the Minnesota Vikings vaulted the team into its first Super Bowl, lifting, at least temporarily, the long shadow of Hurricane Katrina over the city. But just as New Orleans is revving itself into a fever pitch about the Feb. 7 showdown in Miami against the Indianapolis Colts, the National Football League is claiming ownership of the phrase "Who Dat."

The NFL asserted rights to the phrase earlier this week through the Florida Department of State, and it has issued cease-and-desist orders against New Orleans vendors who sell Saints memorabilia adorned with the wording. It informed vendors that using the phrase is likely to "confuse the purchasing public into believing that your items" are sponsored by the NFL.

New Orleans locals are outraged and suspicious. The NFL, they contend, never cared about the quirky chant when the football team was dubbed the 'Aints a few decades ago, or after it was ousted from its home stadium in 2005 by Hurricane Katrina and finished 3-13.

"The Saints actually win something and go to the Super Bowl, and the NFL sees a way they can make a penny," complains Dan Frazier, general manager of local sports-talk radio station 690 WIST.

"It's terrible. It's ridiculous," scoffs self-proclaimed Saints "die-hard" Wade Dugas, a 46-year-old computer consultant, speaking by phone as he nursed a beer Friday at Cooter Brown's Tavern, a New Orleans bar. "What are they going to do—charge us if we cheer? Is that the next step?"

Saints Coach Sean Payton weighed in at his news conference Friday, saying "No one should own 'who dat,' " says team spokesman Greg Bensel.

New Orleans is known for its colorful dialect. You "make groceries," you don't buy them. You don't stop by for a visit, you "pass by." Dishes are washed in the "zink." Although its precise origin isn't known, it's clear that "who dat" is a part of local lingo that predates the rallying cry at Saints games.

St. Augustine High School, an all-boys Catholic school in the city, says it started the chant in 1972 at its own football games. "Who dat talking about beating them Knights? Nobody! Nobody!" recalls the Rev. John Raphael, the school's principal. "It didn't originate with the Saints or the NFL," he says.

The saying became the rallying cry for the Saints. In the 1980s, New Orleans singer Aaron Neville made a video, singing "who dat" alongside team members. The cry has become code for local pride as New Orleans unites in an excitement so infectious that many natives who live elsewhere plan to converge on New Orleans—not Miami—to watch the game.

"It's just permeated the city completely. People start their calls on the radio saying `who dat,' they end their calls on the radio that way. You walk down the street and say `Who dat!' and people you don't even know say `Who dat' back," says Jacques Berry, the spokesman for Louisiana's secretary of state. After the win over the Vikings, he says, "everyone loved everyone, and it's still going on."

But now, according to the NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy, "If 'who dat' is used in a manner to refer to Saints football, then the Saints own the rights."

Mr. McCarthy says the enforcement isn't new. For two decades, the NFL has been "using and enforcing its rights in the 'who dat' mark to refer to Saints football," he says.

Local residents say they've never heard of any problems until now.

On Monday, the NFL registered a trademark for use of the phrase "who dat" on apparel with the Florida Department of State, according to state records.

Lauren Thom, 29 years old, who makes her living on a tiny New Orleans T-shirt shop called Fleurty Girl, is one of a half dozen Louisiana vendors who received cease-and-desist orders. She makes shirts with local sayings such as: "My-nez. It's not mayonnaise, or mayo, oh no, My-Nez is what you put on dat san-wich." Her black-and-gold "Who Dat" shirts had been selling like crawfish, she says. She says she is complying with the NFL order.

So is Elizabeth Harvey, whose family owns Storyville, a local shop that sells similar T-shirts. She says the NFL "asked us to remove everything from our Web site Saints related. That definitely hurt us." She says she is cooperating. "They are the NFL, and we are a small company," she says. 

Ms. Harvey says her customers are upset. "I have old ladies calling me and telling me that they say 'Who dat at the door?' One woman said her dog is named `Who Dat.'"

The cause is drawing bipartisan support from elected officials. On Friday, Sen. David Vitter, a Louisiana Republican, wrote to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, urging the league to "drop this obnoxious" position.

"Who Dat has become part of New Orleans and Louisiana popular culture," he wrote. "For the NFL to try to claim exclusive ownership of it would be like me registering and trying to claim exclusive ownership of the terms 'lagniappe' and `laissez les bons temps rouler!' "

"Please either drop your present ridiculous position or sue me," he wrote, signing his letter, "Junior Senator of Who Dat Nation."

Democratic Congressman Charlie Melancon, who is a candidate for Mr. Vitter's Senate seat, collected 1,800 signatures in just over 90 minutes for a petition he emailed to supporters and posted on Twitter. It urged the NFL to back off. "No one owns 'Who Dat' except for 'Who Dat Nation," he wrote.

Late Friday, the NFL responded to Sen. Vitter's letter, emphasizing that it doesn't want to entirely control the phrase "who dat"—only when it pertains to the Saints. NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy also said that shirt vendors could use the phrase but not on shirts that in any way promote the Saints—such as the ubiquitous black and gold "who dat" shirts the vendors now sell outside games and in fan shops.

Write to Jennifer Levitz at jennifer.levitz@wsj.com