Category: Sports

ESPN.com – NFL – West Coast offense: Saints owner keeps options open

This is a Len Pasquarelli column that recaps Benson’s meeting on Tueday with the NFL owners. He seems pretty sure that the Saints aren’t moving.

He does also mention the ticket sales figures that Dave has been concerned with:

Saints fans, among the league’s most loyal and long-suffering, have purchased only 26,000 season tickets for 2005. More significant, there is a sense of ennui surrounding the ongoing battle between the team and Gov. Kathleen Blanco, who inherited a bum deal that was negotiated by her predecessor.

There is, for sure, a danger here: During all the bad seasons, and all of the incompetent performances of the past, Saints fans have mostly remained passionate about their team. But in the wake of the political brinksmanship being currently waged, some emotion has waned, and the fan base has taken a hit.

Benson on Tuesday deflected suggestions that slumping ticket sales reflected a backlash from the fans, preferring to assign the slippage to the economy of a severely blunted city and state. But economics have always been a compelling issue for the Saints, and could be the component that eventually opens the exit door for Benson and his team.

Saints’ owner not about to return sweet steal from Louisiana
May 2, 2005
Commentary: Glenn Guilbeau

…
Those checks started at $12.5 million in 2001, went up to $15 million in 2002, will rise to $20 million in 2006 and to $23.5 million in 2008 and remain there through 2010. The checks, which will add up to over $180 million by 2010, keep coming regardless of what the Saints do on or off the field.

Should the Red Sea part and the Saints go 12-4 this season and make more money on ticket sales, game-day sales, merchandise sales and the like, they would still get $20 million from the state in 2006. It won’t matter what kind of season the state has.

It’s clearly the sweetest deal in the history of the NFL, which is known for having the most lucrative and competitively balanced financial blueprint in all of sports.

Thank you, former Gov. Mike Foster. You always said you weren’t much of a sports fan, but you made NFL history. And it could well be your legacy.

Stop with the talk of New Orleans being a poor market. All NFL markets make money because of the TV contracts and shared revenue. The Saints had the highest payroll in the NFL in 2003 and still went 8-8.
…

And this ladies and gentlemen is why the Saints suck. It doesn’t matter if they win or lose. All they have to do is show up. This is why Aaron Brooks is still pitching the ball back to his imaginary friends in the backfield. This is why it doesn’t matter that Donte Stallworth should have had his “breakout season” by now. This is why it doesn’t matter that we had the worst defense in the NFL last year and we took an OT in the first round of the draft.

Dave’s right. All businessman, no NFL fan. And who suffers because of it. The fans. The people of the City of New Orleans have been so loyal to this team. The Saints are regarded as a joke across the NFL. Commonly known as the worst team in NFL history. And yet every season, we dont give up. We keep supporting this team, even though they will only break our hearts. And now Benson is trying to use fear tactics on the fans talking to San Antonio. Disgusting.

There is no other deal out there for you that is better, Tom. Bite the bullet, be a hero to the city. The man who saved the Saints.

WR Lyman has torn ACL Wide receiver Chase Lyman was injured before he ever made his first play as a college football player, and now he has suffered the same fate as a pro. In his first workout as an NFL player Friday, Lyman, the Saints’ fourth-round pick in last month’s NFL draft, again tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee.

Nice going. This will be the best Saints season ever. Being the Glass Bus myself, I can feel for these guys who are perpetually injured.

At least we don’t have Kellan Winslow, Jr. Although I’m sure we are looking to trade someone for him.

49ERS NOTEBOOK / NFL says Nolan cannot ‘suit’ up
Coach Mike Nolan recently petitioned the NFL to allow him to wear a suit on the sidelines during game days.

“To me, it’s professional. I think it’s respectful,” Nolan said. “There was certainly no deal, no one came to me, there was nothing to gain. I wasn’t trying to put the spotlight on me. But what I was trying to say, there’s somebody in charge and this is what they look like.”

The league turned Nolan down. Head coaches must wear the NFL-sanctioned team garb.

That’s total bullshit. Brian Billick gets away with wearing his lame-ass leather jacket over in Baltimore. Let the man wear a suit and make him wear a 49ers tie-tack or socks or something.