I think it is almost all but inevidetable that the New Orleans Saints are done in Louisiana.
And this isn't just because of Hurricane Katrina. Owner Tom Benson has been wanting to move the Saints for several years...citing his disdain for the Superdome and the lack of corporate dollars in the area. Three things held him back from doing so.
A fight with the NFL....who likes having the New Orleans football market and keeps showing us by holding Super Bowls there.
A lease with the Superdome that doesn't expire until 2010.
The fact that the state was paying Benson millions of dollars just to stay there.
Well....the state really can't afford to pay Benson's hush money anymore as there are a tad more pressing needs. And with the Superdome essentially a tomb and the city in ruins due to Katrina...it envokes a "force majeure" clause that allows the Saints to move due to an "act of God." With those things and the fact that the sagging New Orleans economy has been further decimated....Tags may be a bit more open to letting the team go. Especially to the second biggest market in the NFL.....Los Angeles.
Now Benson has truly had it with Louisiana....after being berated in his team's return to Louisiana....to Baton Rouge....and being "paparazzi-ed" while there. He sent an e-mail to Paul Tagliabue that he will "not return to Baton Rouge for any reason"....whether that means this year or a possible next year. The NFL has done the Saints no favors.....holding "home games" in three different stadiums, three different cities, in three different states.
Everyone around Louisiana...well most of them...hate Benson now and don't want him back. They still want the team....but how likely is that? As I said, Tags now has the perfect situation to get the NFL back into Los Angeles with the least amount of backlash as he can get. I mean, he cannot have the Saints are in a joint-custody battle with Louisiana and San Antonio.
Sure, after you read this....you will see articles elsewhere that say "Tags wants the Saints to stay in New Orleans" or something. All lipservice. Down the road...it won't be economically viable to keep them there....at least not in the next several years. Behind the scenes, stadium groups will be fighting to try to get a stadium built somewhere in LA to house the Saints. Again.
The Saints players will get a home. The Los Angeles market will get a team. The NFC gets a SoCal team. Fox will be happy that it's trading in a small N'Awlins market for the 2nd largest in the league [which will up the price in the new TV talks]. The NFL will realign with the Saints out west....and possibly the Rams [who left LA a decade ago] in the NFC South....making the Rams a bit happier with less travel and back with former NFC West rivals Carolina and Atlanta.
Only New Orleans will be bent....but they have a hard arguement to bring forth. But, the NFL will desert the city until it is time to offer up another Super Bowl.
1 comment:
Being from New Orleans I am afraid you are probably right. Most people deep down know it is the right business move on Benson's part. But Mr. Benson is going out of his way to get as many people in the state pissed off at him so we won't fight the move which will make it easier for him. First he has talks with the city of San Antonio and then has no comment to New Orleans until the end of the season.
Then he write a letter to the state telling them the National Guard trashed their training faculity so they can get out of a contract that they only pay $1.00 a year for when in reality a couple of security fences were blown down for the storm was all the damage they had. The "paparazzi incident was initiated by Benson himself. He should be used to people espicially sports reporter from his team's home town wanting film of him at the game. he attacked the camera man then cried he feared for his life. Give me a break. He has yet to make a public statement to the press except in a newspaper add which I'm sure someone else wrote for him. This is a pathetic way to treat the same fans that have supported your sorry ass team for over 35 years.
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