N.O. mayor rips Saints owner

Bucktastic · #1 (**permalink**) 10-19-2005, 05:34 PM

New Orleans mayor rips Saints owner Benson
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CBS SportsLine.com wire reports
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</TD></TR><TR><TD style="BORDER-LEFT: #cccccc 1px solid" width=5></TD><TD><NOBR></NOBR></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>NEW ORLEANS -- Mayor Ray Nagin disparaged Saints owner Tom Benson on Wednesday for working with San Antonio officials to permanently keep the NFL team in Texas.

The mayor's comments came after the departures of two top Saints executives who were supportive of keeping the Saints in Louisiana. Nagin is concerned that San Antonio officials said publicly that Benson is working with them to relocate the franchise to Texas.
"We want our Saints, we may not want the owner back," Nagin said while attending the reopening of Cafe Du Monde in the French Quarter.
"I'm ready to go to the NFL and to (commissioner Paul) Tagliabue and say, 'Give us the Cleveland plan,' " Nagin added, referring to the league awarding Cleveland an expansion team almost immediately after the Browns moved to Baltimore after the 1995 season. "Whatever the Saints want to do, you let them leave, but they can't take our logo, they can't take our name, and you give us a promise to give us a franchise when this city's back."

Saints spokesman Greg Bensel said he had no comment on the matter.
"For them to be openly talking to other cities about moving is disrespectful to the citizens of New Orleans, disrespectful to the Saints fans who have hung in with this franchise through 30-something years under very trying times," Nagin said.

The Saints joined the NFL in 1967. In 1986, Benson was part of an ownership group that bought the team to ensure it would stay in Louisiana. Benson eventually bought out other members of the group.
During Benson's ownership, the state of Louisiana has built him a new headquarters, including spending $6.75 million for an indoor practice field in 2003. The state also has paid for repeated improvements to the Louisiana Superdome at Benson's insistence during the past two decades.

On Monday night, Benson fired Arnold Fielkow, the team's top business executive since 2000. Fielkow had overseen a 36-game sellout streak at the Superdome and negotiated an unprecedented stadium lease that called for the state to pay Benson $187 million in direct subsidies over 10 years.
But Fielkow has said he believed the Saints needed to be leaders in New Orleans' rebuilding process after Hurricane Katrina and repeatedly praised Saints fans in Louisiana as the best and most loyal in the NFL. Fielkow has since said that stance led to his dismissal.

On Tuesday, Conrad Kowal, senior director of marketing and business development, also resigned.
Nagin called Benson's recent actions a "doggone shame."

AP NEWS
The Associated Press News Service

http://cbs.sportsline.com/nfl/story/8983731

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sandgk · #2 (**permalink**) 10-19-2005, 05:45 PM

Just one year ago San Antonio was courting the NFL to one of the sites for a proposed 2 team expansionin 2006 with play beginning in 2008.

Now they want to lock onto the Saints (and if Nagin et al have their way) will get a Franchise, probably re-named, and then New Orleans get their 'Aints back in play by 2008.

Which could be just enough time to do the job of re-building the stadium in New Orleans the right way.

Here is the piece from back in November 2004 on San Antonio's expansion intentions at that time.

Quote:

Reported by Clay Williams, Sports Director
NOVEMBER 9, 2004 - The Rio Grande Valley loves football, whether it's high school, college, or professional. Now local fans may get a chance to see the highest level of the sport right here at home.
It might seem far fetched, but the story is true, Wednesday in Weslaco, a possible ownership group will meet with local business leaders for the purpose of gauging interest in an NFL expansion team located right here in the Rio Grande Valley.
Tichenor and Associates, a group led by McHenry Tichenor and part of the original owners of KGBT-TV has commissioned a five-year study that shows the feasibility of an NFLl franchise here in the Valley.
Now the NFL wants to know just how serious local and state-wide businesses would be in their support of a team.
When Will NFL Expand?
The NFL will expand by two teams in 2006 for play in 2008, and if the Valley can demonstrate to the league that they would buy advertising, luxury boxes, and season tickets, then local football fans could be watching the NFL live on Sunday afternoons in a matter of four years.
A lot that has to be done, and in a short time, the NFL wants corporate interest weighed over the next three or four months before they even put the Valley's name among the possibilities for expansion.
What will Corporate Support Cost?
What type of support is the NFL looking for? High priced support. The rights to name the stadium would cost $500 million dollars over 15 years. The team naming rights could cost $200 million per year.
Luxury suites in an NFL stadium cost anywhere from $63,000 to $185,000 per year. Club seats are an additional $1,075 to $185,000 annually.
The study commissioned by Tichenor and Associates says the fan base is available from folks in the Valley, South Texas and Northern Mexico.
Where will the fans come from?
The study found that 234,000 Valley residents would be willing to attend a game. The number of fans across the border nearly triples the Valley numbers.
640,000 residents from Reynosa and Matamoros, the study found, would travel to the Valley to attend an NFL game.
More than half a million fans from San Antonio would do the same.
The largest fan base would come from Monterrey, Mexico. The study found that more than one-point-two million fans would fly or drive to the Valley to attend a professional football game.
More details about the franchise plan will be unveiled on Wednesday.

Buckeye Maniac · #3 (**permalink**) 10-19-2005, 05:45 PM

Benson makes me sick. The Saints are a tradition in New Orleans and it's especially disrespectful after Ketrina hit...the people of New Orleans need a team to keep their minds off their losses. I bet most of the players want to stay in New Orleans too. The only person who should leave is Benson IMO.

MililaniBuckeye · #4 (**permalink**) 10-19-2005, 07:38 PM

Nagin needs to quit naggin' (pun intended) and do a better job of overseeing his city. He's the same nitwit that didn't get people to evacuate until too late. He's incompetence personafied and now he wants to shift focus to a pro football team. He needs to concentrate on leading the clean-up and building of his city.

bassbuckeye07 · #5 (**permalink**) 10-19-2005, 07:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MililaniBuckeye

Nagin needs to quit naggin' (pun intended) and do a better job of overseeing his city. He's the same nitwit that didn't get people to evacuate until too late. He's incompetence personafied and now he wants to shift focus to a pro football team. He needs to concentrate on leading the clean-up and building of his city.

God forbid he makes a comment about a major sports franchise in his city.

sandgk · #6 (**permalink**) 10-19-2005, 07:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Buckeye Maniac

Benson makes me sick. The Saints are a tradition in New Orleans and it's especially disrespectful after Ketrina hit...the people of New Orleans need a team to keep their minds off their losses. I bet most of the players want to stay in New Orleans too. The only person who should leave is Benson IMO.

Benson is a dick - no real dispute there, he's not the first NFL owner to pull the carpet out from under a city's feet, not the first NFL owner to be a dick either. But, realistically, what is he meant to do? The city may not be ready to host the Saints as its team for more than a year. He cannot have the 'Aints as a traveling road show, he's looking for a home, and evidently NO isn't uppermost in his plans.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MililaniBuckeye

Nagin needs to quit naggin' (pun intended) and do a better job of overseeing his city. He's the same nitwit that didn't get people to evacuate until too late. He's incompetence personafied and now he wants to shift focus to a pro football team. He needs to concentrate on leading the clean-up and building of his city.

You are right about misplaced priorities. Probably too many high powered java juices at Cafe Du Monde caused his brain to sieze up. Getting one landmark open isn't the time to whine and cry about the inability of NO to host its NFL franchise team. And, honestly, how long is it going to take for the stadium to really be up to snuff for use? Certainly isn't this year. Maybe not the next. Maybe its better to start from scratch, and maybe you don't publicly arm-twist Tagliabue when you want his support. Fact is that if NO never had an NFL team and wanted to join the queue for a crack at getting an expansion franchise they would have a hard sell before Katrina. That sounds harsh, I know it does, but it is true. Not enough cash, not enough of a demographic fan base. For the NFL to put them to top of a very short list (only 2 teams likely available) he better learn to sweet talk the league. More flies would be caught with honey than vinegar.

bassbuckeye07 · #7 (**permalink**) 10-19-2005, 07:58 PM

I have changed my mind that guy (naggin) bitches about everything. He is like on over load he cant just explain himself or make a statement without it being defensive and border line crazy.