The Dude

Has he even made a statement? In the past he has made statements several times during the season. Maybe he really has lost the ability to handle his money. Makes me wonder if Rita and that San Antonio judge may have a chance after all.

hagan714

gag order maybe? tom has never really go into the operations

xan

If a football team's performance were in any way indicative of an owner's mental condition, Jerry Jones would have been a ward of the state 10 years ago.

SaintsBro

Well I'm not sure I even buy this myself, but it could be that all this time he is quietly trying to downvalue the team, as he is heading in to the lawsuit. If the value of the team declines or tanks (even just temporarily), it makes his swap of assets out of the trusts make a lot more sense... It was only when the team value was astronomically high that the Rita camp had a problem with the substitution of the trust assets. The trust agreements contain a provision requiring the trustee to ensure that any assets changed, are exchanged for assets of equal value. That was the initial sticking point all along. The value of the swap.

Is the team worth $556 million or 1.1 billion? That is the question. I'm no expert but I'd say the QB, GM and coach are on thin ice, the next year's season ticket sellout is in jeopardy, merchandise sales are at a lull (no stars on the team, plus anybody really want to buy a Brees jersey, that doesn't already have one by now?), and the overall value of the team is potentially dropping, by the week. It will bounce back of course but this could come down to being all about the appraisal.

Danno

"I think I just pooped my pants."

halfmoon61

Interesting theory, I've seen stranger things happen. I once saw the Saints win a Super Bowl. All about the money...

Rugby Saint II

He's hanging out with Peter Pan in never never land.

Danno

If it was all about the money we wouldn't have overpaid 10-15 players over the last 10 years, and grossly over-paid several more.

RailBoss

This could be part of the teams problem, unsteadiness in the front office could cause a domino affect.

SaintsBro

Actually, no offense, but if you were trying to make the team slightly LESS profitable, and worth less, as a franchise, because of the uncertainty around the team's ownership future, well that is one of the tools you could use to do that. Overpaying certain players within the salary cap, or making boneheaded cap or free agent moves, it makes no difference to Benson financially, one way or the other, it's all under the cap. He pays the cap, the cap is fixed, no matter how badly or well it's spent, that doesn't affect Benson's pockets.

Overpaying certain players and producing a losing product, on the field, that seems to have really cratered in the last year or so -- that impacts the profitability of the team to sell merch, food, rights, the suites in the Dome to fatcats, its overall success, and hence its overall money value. As a franchise.


Again, this is just something I'm kinda running up the flagpole, to see what I think, and what other people think. But if the team is making less money, that makes the value go down, of the whole team overall, and in theory that definitely benefits Benson in his theoretical efforts to switch things around in the trust, for other assets of "equal" value. Something to think about.