Ickybaluky
11-21-2004, 09:21 AM
John McClain, who is one of the more respected national football writers (his Sunday Notes column in the Houston Chronicle is a must read), feels that Tom Benson wants to move to Los Angelos.
I've read some concern here over Buffalo being the team that is moved, but I don't think that happens. I think it is the Saints.
Here is the article (http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/sports/fb/nfl/2911341):
The Saints have experienced enough controversy on the football side of the organization to last a couple of seasons, and now the administrative side has created an uproar.
Amid daily reports that coach Jim Haslett should be fired because of the disappointing 4-5 record and the chasm between the coaching staff and personnel department is growing wider by the week, owner Tom Benson has dropped a bombshell on the state of Louisiana.
If Benson doesn’t get what he wants from the state, his franchise could become the Los Angeles Saints.
Benson, who always seems to be at war with politicians over his lease and revenue, has given Louisiana a Feb. 1 deadline for agreeing to his demands. He has a clause in his lease with the Superdome that gives him the option of getting out after the 2005 season for $81 million.
That’s a lot of money, of course, for an owner who’s receiving an annual cash inducement from the state, but perhaps California politicians would agree to pay it.
Benson prefers a new downtown stadium, of course, but knows he won’t get it, so he’s agreed to settle for less. Yeah, right.
Benson will agree to stay in New Orleans through 2020 if he gets a $168 million Superdome renovation, a continuation of the annual state-funded cash inducement that was $15 million this year and will increase to $23.5 million in 2008, a 25-acre tailgate park that is estimated to cost between $5 million and $10 million, a state-operated multi-sport facility, development of eight acres of land next to the team’s practice facility so he can build a hotel and relocate the team’s Hall of Fame and a sports-oriented redevelopment of the New Orleans Centre shopping mall that’s connected to the Superdome that will be modeled after the new atrium at the renovated Lambeau Field in Green Bay.
And, get this, Benson wants the income but doesn’t intend to pay a penny out of his pocket for any of it. Some close to the Saints believe he’s making such preposterous demands because he wants Louisiana to turn him down so he can move his team to Los Angeles.
"I don't want to move,” Benson said. “I don't want to sell. We have three choices: We can build a new stadium, extend and enhance our current agreement, or tell us to leave. And we have to do this by early next year."
Benson gave the Feb. 1 deadline because owners are going to decide at the league meetings in March which cities get the 2009 and 2010 Super Bowls.
I've read some concern here over Buffalo being the team that is moved, but I don't think that happens. I think it is the Saints.
Here is the article (http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/sports/fb/nfl/2911341):
The Saints have experienced enough controversy on the football side of the organization to last a couple of seasons, and now the administrative side has created an uproar.
Amid daily reports that coach Jim Haslett should be fired because of the disappointing 4-5 record and the chasm between the coaching staff and personnel department is growing wider by the week, owner Tom Benson has dropped a bombshell on the state of Louisiana.
If Benson doesn’t get what he wants from the state, his franchise could become the Los Angeles Saints.
Benson, who always seems to be at war with politicians over his lease and revenue, has given Louisiana a Feb. 1 deadline for agreeing to his demands. He has a clause in his lease with the Superdome that gives him the option of getting out after the 2005 season for $81 million.
That’s a lot of money, of course, for an owner who’s receiving an annual cash inducement from the state, but perhaps California politicians would agree to pay it.
Benson prefers a new downtown stadium, of course, but knows he won’t get it, so he’s agreed to settle for less. Yeah, right.
Benson will agree to stay in New Orleans through 2020 if he gets a $168 million Superdome renovation, a continuation of the annual state-funded cash inducement that was $15 million this year and will increase to $23.5 million in 2008, a 25-acre tailgate park that is estimated to cost between $5 million and $10 million, a state-operated multi-sport facility, development of eight acres of land next to the team’s practice facility so he can build a hotel and relocate the team’s Hall of Fame and a sports-oriented redevelopment of the New Orleans Centre shopping mall that’s connected to the Superdome that will be modeled after the new atrium at the renovated Lambeau Field in Green Bay.
And, get this, Benson wants the income but doesn’t intend to pay a penny out of his pocket for any of it. Some close to the Saints believe he’s making such preposterous demands because he wants Louisiana to turn him down so he can move his team to Los Angeles.
"I don't want to move,” Benson said. “I don't want to sell. We have three choices: We can build a new stadium, extend and enhance our current agreement, or tell us to leave. And we have to do this by early next year."
Benson gave the Feb. 1 deadline because owners are going to decide at the league meetings in March which cities get the 2009 and 2010 Super Bowls.