04/24/24
December 30, 2005
Saints Will Leave San Antonio: New Orleans Saints owner Tom Benson and NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue have reached an agreement to return the displaced team to its state-owned training facility in Metairie, La., after the season ends Sunday. The agreement likely eliminates the possibility of the Saints playing home games at the Alamodome in 2006.
what happened to new orleans is very unfortunate. however we cannot forget that the team owner mr. benson had already been considering a move before katrina even hit. the superdome was already junk. the city wouldnt renovate. the NFL wants a team in L.A.. i dont think its benson's responsibility to stay now out of pity. the man has a business to run.
posted by grizzay at 11:02 AM on December 30, 2005
I don't have a problem with Benson leaving or running his team as he sees fit. Why drag it out? Just let him leave now. To do something like this to save the NFL's face is what I have a problem with.
posted by tdheiland at 11:13 AM on December 30, 2005
I don't think Benson should feel obligated to stay in New Orleans, remember, buisnesses move if they don't make enough money and a football team is a buisness. If Benson feels he would be better of elsewhere so be it, it is his decision.
posted by Ying Yang Mafia at 11:14 AM on December 30, 2005
Not only must Benson be getting a sizable incentive but the problem still exists. Benson still has no permanent place for his team to play in 2006. The article mentions Baton Rouge, the Superdome and the Alamodome all as possibilities. Add-in Giant Stadium for 1 game and you have virtually the same home schedlude as this season. Benson wants to move. The damage to his team from this natural diaster can not be measured, It is real and personal to all of the people associated with the Saints. Los Angeles needs a team and has all of the necessary facilities in place. Let Tom move his team, he owns the darn thing, his players need a premanent home for their families and the NFL needs LA. It would be a win-win-win for everyone. Except poor New Orleans.
posted by Termite at 11:18 AM on December 30, 2005
Los Angeles needs a team and has all of the necessary facilities in place. They 'need' a team? If they needed one, I doubt the teams that have left LA would have left in the first place.
posted by justgary at 11:54 AM on December 30, 2005
LA SAINTS , DAMN THAT SOUNDS GOOD!!
posted by wiseguy at 11:58 AM on December 30, 2005
nah, cant be LA Saints. they'll have to change the team name. it'll probably be the first NFL name with no 's' on the end. the LA Rush
posted by grizzay at 12:38 PM on December 30, 2005
no, wait! the LA Terminators. whoop !! there it is.
posted by grizzay at 12:39 PM on December 30, 2005
...and the NFL needs LA. Yeah right! Beacause the NFL has pretty much gone into a downward spiral without having a team in LA. Didn't the teams (Rams and Raiders) move away from LA because of lack of attendence and/or problems with building a new staduim? I think that LA has proven that it should never again have a NFL team. Pooh on them.
posted by grabofsky74 at 01:48 PM on December 30, 2005
The NFL in LA is like a mirage, even better, like a dazzling digital effect from Lucas's ILM for both the area's football fans and league leadership. It will remain out of reach for many years. New Orleans is another matter entirely. I'm seeing reports that (non-sports) businesses are looking at the situation on the ground and deciding not to return/rebuild, the housing situation is still mired in bureaucratic and contractor nonsense and the levees are nowhere near ready with the next hurricane season less than six months off. Regardless of what Benson, the NFL, the city or fans want to do, I think any pronouncement that the Saints can return in time for 2006 games is way premature.
posted by billsaysthis at 02:01 PM on December 30, 2005
A few possible Los Angeles NFL team names: * LA Law -- C'mon, admit it. You miss Susan Dey ... and a big logo of Benny Stulwitz in the middle of the field would just kick ass. * LA Woman -- With a nice Jim Morrison silhouette on the side of the helmet ... you know, dead in a bathtub. * Los Angeles Felchers -- A nod to the local porn industry.
posted by wfrazerjr at 02:59 PM on December 30, 2005
* LA Law, LA Woman No they wouldn't fit in with the rest of the NFL. It would have to be the LA Laws or the LA Womans.
posted by Ying Yang Mafia at 05:43 PM on December 30, 2005
LOL! LA Woman, good one. Can the Lions have the Saints we'll take the practice squad
posted by MICHIGANDER at 05:47 PM on December 30, 2005
the is fact is that the NFL loves having the super bowl in new orleans If they (the NFL) can figure a way to accomplish this, color the saints gone.
posted by whodat at 06:10 PM on December 30, 2005
Well, we saw today the end of the short-lived San Antonio Saints, the team formerly of the Big Easy. From what I am reading here, next year will be the Saints last hurrah in New Orleans before moving on to greener pastures, like Los Angeles. It is true that the NFL wants a team in L.A. as soon as possible and that the NFL needs L.A. Los Angeles also needs the NFL and has a feasible venue more or less, the Coliseum. It will be rebuilt, like Soldier Field. Odds are that they will become the Los Angeles Saints, so long as Ray Nagin, the Big Easy's Mayor, does not succeed in his attempts to block it. If he does succeed, the L.A. Rush will probably be the first choice, so long as Tagliabue does not block that one. Welcome your 2007 L.A. Saints. Reggie Bush or Matt Leinart will be drafted by the Saints. That will help them when they come here. Either player will be playing his new home games in his old home. By the way, we have a new busway here in L.A., the Valley section, so the traffic and rush hour is a little bit better now, particularly on the 101 freeway. Also, it is interesting to note that the City of L.A. is building a light rail line to Exposition Park, the part of the city where the Coliseum is located. It will be called the Exposition Line. It's main stop is the Coliseum. I presume that they have done this because Saints games would clog up nearly every freeway in the L.A. Metro area. The Line would allow all the people, including Valley people because of the line recently opened, to get to the Coliseum via public transportation.
posted by Joe88 at 06:19 PM on December 30, 2005
Don't count out San antonio. San Antonio outdrew Baton Rouge 60,000 to 30,000 in attendance. The players from the TV interviews seen to favor the SA scene. Tom Benson has a major car dealership in SA. Red McCombs has the magic touch and the local media is very positive in a possible last minute charge. We bent over backwards to see to the needs of the Saints as well as the displaced New Orleans Citizens. Don't Count us out .
posted by mustang71 at 09:23 PM on December 30, 2005
LA you've had your chance and let it go twice. Step back and share the wealth.
posted by mustang71 at 09:25 PM on December 30, 2005
It is true that the NFL wants a team in L.A. as soon as possible and that the NFL needs L.A. Los Angeles also needs the NFL and has a feasible venue more or less, the Coliseum. posted by Joe88 Why do people keep saying this? Repeating something over and over doesn't make it true. LA does not need the NFL. They've proven that before. They'll probably prove it again.
posted by justgary at 10:31 PM on December 30, 2005
Sssh. Don't wake Joe up.
posted by yerfatma at 10:57 PM on December 30, 2005
Maybe they could move to Detroit? God knows they could use a football team!
posted by commander cody at 01:26 AM on December 31, 2005
The Ford Family should move the Lions to LA. I don't think too many people would object to them taking the team name and colors, etc. with them. Especially after this season. Think about it. The LA Lions playing in the Coliseum. The crowd could do that whole thumbs down thing and pretend they were romans watching a gladiator match. They might even want to change the team colors to yellow and red or something more appropriate than blue.
posted by apoch at 03:29 AM on December 31, 2005
If you move the Lions just don't give us the Saints. Remember, it was the Lions who beat the Saints.
posted by Ying Yang Mafia at 05:46 AM on December 31, 2005
no place to play in new orleans.a lot of things more important than a football team to new orleans.team deserves a permanent home.move them to where there is one.as to the lions put the whole team,millen,and the ford family on a barge in the middle of the beautiful detroit river and sink it.starting over with an expansion team couldn't ever be as bad.
posted by meijer067 at 11:23 AM on December 31, 2005
New Lions colors should be yellow and pink.
posted by commander cody at 12:50 PM on December 31, 2005
It is tue that we had our chance to dance twice and we blew it, but give us a thied chance and boy, will we ever dance. D.C. got a third chance at the MLB and do they ever dance.
posted by Joe88 at 09:22 PM on December 31, 2005
The Saints should stay put in New Orleans. Maybe play some game's in San Antonio until the Superdome is ready. Then come ah marching on home.Take Bush, and a good TE in the draft and you'll be fine don't panic!
posted by jhirth at 01:39 AM on January 01, 2006
D.C. got a third chance at the MLB and do they ever dance. D.C. has an asset that L.A. doesn't, being the nation's capital and hence the corrupting influence of massiv numbers of politicians. LA isn't even the capital of California.
posted by billsaysthis at 01:38 PM on January 01, 2006
LA has the advantage of being the biggest city in the United States without a NFL team. In fact, it is the 3rd or 2nd biggest city in the USA (I think).
posted by Ying Yang Mafia at 02:35 PM on January 01, 2006
YYM, while you're absolutely correct about LA's size the same facts were true when the Rams and Raiders played there. Although DC was also our nation's capital when the previous MLB franchises were there you seem to be underestimating the pressure that so many politicians and lobbyists in one place can exert on the only professional league with a federally legislated antitrust exemption. MLB want to keep that intact, whereas potential LA ownership groups have not demonstrated sufficiently that they have an answer to the previous failures.
posted by billsaysthis at 05:23 PM on January 01, 2006
If you think we need political corruption, we do not because we already have it. We just got rid of our mayor last year in favor of a Hispanic-American man from the City Council. Our ex-mayor is known as the Godfather of Corruption. His hands were in an airport deal full of dirty money. Many had called for his recall, were he to be reelected, which he was not, by a landslide.
posted by Joe88 at 10:27 PM on January 01, 2006
Joe, I come from New Jersey where they invented political corruption; okay, they stole it from across the Hudson, to be precise. Nothing in my comments indicated LA needs more corruption to get an NFL franchise anyway.
posted by billsaysthis at 03:15 PM on January 02, 2006
Wonder how much money the NFL is paying Benson to stay for one year to keep from taking the PR hit. Wait one year then ram it to the poor bastards that live in New Orleans.