Saints Caught Between a Rock and the Superdome

This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

The New York Sun

The NFL has a major ethical dilemma in New Orleans.


The truth is that the New Orleans NFL market, which stretches east to hurricane-ravaged Mississippi and west to hurricane-ravaged southwestern Louisiana, is no longer economically viable. Pulling the franchise out of New Orleans would be the correct business decision, but the NFL knows it cannot pull up stakes and turn its back on the area and its loyal fans.


Meanwhile, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin is upset with Saints owner Tom Benson and the city of San Antonio, where the team is playing three home games this season. Nagin feels the team should stay, but Benson seems to be enjoying himself in San Antonio while his Saints play three home games in the city’s Alamodome. Nagin seems resigned that Benson will work out a deal with San Antonio officials and business leaders, and that the Saints will go marching out of New Orleans.


Benson claims he has no plans to relocate, but San Antonio officials have already announced their intention to make Texas the Saints’ permanent home. In an open letter addressed to fans published in local newspapers yesterday, Benson wrote: “No decision has been made about the future of the team. We have continued to operate and represent the city and fans of New Orleans. When the time is right and the factors that are yet unresolved are resolved, a decision of the future of the team will be made.”


Nagin, who, like many of his constituents, feels a relocation would amount to a betrayal of the region and its fans, has already publicly asked NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue to “give us the Cleveland plan,” referring to the deal that Cleveland Mayor Kevin White hammered out with Tagliabue when the Browns moved to Baltimore but were forced to give up rights to the team’s name, logo, and records. The Saints could then be reborn in New Orleans as an expansion team.


But Nagin may be hurting his cause with a proposal to establish a casino district in his city as a way of jump-starting the economy. Such a proposal may pro vide Benson and the NFL the excuse they need to leave with the Saints.


The NFL, whose popularity has partially been built on point spreads and gambling over the decades, wants no part of a city that encourages gambling. The league has turned down Las Vegas advertisements during Super Bowl telecasts. Tagliabue has told New Orleans and Louisiana officials that the league wants a seat at the table when the time comes to really start the rebuilding of New Orleans. It’s hard to imagine Tagliabue sitting with gaming officials discussing the NFL’s role in the rebuilding of New Orleans given the league’s Las Vegas stance.


The future of the Saints may be decided by November 29, the day Benson’s arena lease could be canceled due to severe damage to the Superdome. Benson has already announced that his Arena Football League team, the New Orleans VooDoo, will not take the field in 2006 because of hurricane recovery efforts.


The truth is, Benson was looking for a new stadium or city for his business before the Katrina disaster. He was only in New Orleans because Louisiana was paying him millions of dollars to stay. The state agreed to subsidize Benson’s business in 2001, giving him annual payments starting at $12 million in 2002 and ending with $23.5 million in 2010. Benson was to get $186.5 million over that period and in either 2005 or 2006, Louisiana was going to look into renovating the Superdome or building a new state-of-the-art stadium.


Benson’s subsidy was supposed to be paid by tourism dollars, but Louisiana has had to scramble to meet the annual subsidy. The tourism industry in New Orleans took a hit after the 9/11 attacks and has not fully recovered. By 2004, Louisiana was borrowing money from other state revenue streams to pay off Benson.


The state is obligated to pay Benson by July of each year, and if the state defaults on the agreement, Benson can declare free agency about 75 days after he doesn’t receive his check.


Technically, Benson is free to leave New Orleans in 2007, assuming the state cannot meet its 2006 obligation. Since New Orleans’s main industry – tourism – has now been all but wiped out, it can be assumed that Louisiana will not have the funds to pay off Benson in July 2006.


Of course, all of this may be moot if the Louisiana Superdome cannot be repaired. Benson’s best solution would seem to be a move to San Antonio. He has auto dealerships there and it seems local political and business leaders are in his corner, and why not? The Alamodome has been a white elephant since it opened in 1993 and needs the business, even if it’s only used 10 days a year by an NFL team.


Benson is in a poor market economically by NFL standards. Though consistent fan support over the years – until late last season, the Saints had enjoyed 36 straight sellouts despite mostly mediocre play – led the state to subsidize the team, the Saints had been struggling to sell tickets recently. Part of the problem was the introduction of a second major league team, the NBA’s Hornets, to the city in the past three years. There is just not enough corporate money to support two teams in New Orleans – Louisiana has been subsidizing George Shinn’s Hornets as well. In an age when the names of stadiums and arenas are bought by businesses and corporate money flows into owners’ pockets, neither the Louisiana Superdome nor the Hornets’ New Orleans Arena have a corporate moniker.


For his part, Shinn, whose Hornets will play 35 home games in Oklahoma City this season, has moved his operations out of New Orleans and is pleased with the Oklahoma City business community’s response to his team. Shinn claims he is committed to New Orleans, but it was an ominous sign for Nagin and his city when Shinn said that Oklahoma City was supporting the Hornets better than New Orleans did.


The NFL and Benson have remained relatively quiet about the future of the Saints in New Orleans. According to the Associated Press, when reporters at Benson’s suburban home asked him what he had to say to the team’s New Orleans fan base, he told them to get off his property. Deep down, he and the league know it will take years for New Orleans and the surrounding area to be rebuilt and that local residents have far more pressing issues facing them than whether a football team is playing 10 games a year at the Louisiana Superdome.


The New York Sun

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