Blanco to make "one more call"
 

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2048952


[Edited on 4/29/2005 by Halo]

Blanco to make "one more call"
 

Well, without stepping too much into political discussion, I don\'t care for Blanco as Gov. However, I\'ve been pretty impressed with how she has handled this situation so far.

I hope she continues to press Benson and makes him make it clear to everyone that he could care less if La goes bankrupt as long as he gets his $$$.

Blanco to make "one more call"
 

the state did agree to the deal right? ;)

Blanco to make "one more call"
 

If the State of Louisiana owed me some money, then I want it. It\'s not my fault the State has made bad decisions in the past. I had nothing to do with it.

Benson was promised money from the previous governor. The State should honor that commitment. If not, I suspect many folks won\'t believe the State will honor any of Blanco\'s deals once she is out of office.

If the State doesn\'t feel like the Saints are worth the investment, then they should just cut bait.

But, Governor Foster made a commitment. It should be honored. If I was Benson ... I really don\'t want to hear some \"sob\" story.

[Edited on 28/4/2005 by GumboBC]

Blanco to make "one more call"
 

exactly my point billy, they agreed to the deal so both parties should uphold their end....or isn\'t that a breach of contract?

Blanco to make "one more call"
 

scotty it isnt his job to care if the state goes bankrupt. that is left for the elected officials. his job is to make money. im sure there is no wasteful spending by the state helping them go bankrupt. im sure there are no useless governemnt jobs going to people who are being paid large amounts of money because they helped on the campaign. you know andrew jackson and his idea that to the victor go the spoils. like i said it is not bensons job to care about the state going bankrupt. his job is to make sure HE doesnt. we are suppose to live in a country based on capitalism. it seems to be getting more and more like a system of communism.

Blanco to make "one more call"
 

Benson has renegotiated for more money with every gonvernor since he bought the team, with th exception of Roemer. All deals were final, and supposed to last for 20+ years. None lasted more than 3 before Benson was whining for more from the State. He\'s got a lot of freakin\' nerve to say he expects the State to stick with it\'s agreement when he NEVER has. :P

That being said, the bottom line will always be that the Saints provide income for the State. The argument is how much the State wants to pay for that income. The Stateof Louisiana has never paid the Saints more money than they have earned from them. Even at the current Foster/Saints contract, the State gets a lot more money than it pays. If the state prefers 100% of nothing rather than 20% of $21,000,000.00, then they are the idiots everyone believes them to be, and they don\'t deserve an NFL team. Like Houston, they will realize after the Saints leave that an NFL franchise is an irreplaceable thing.

[Edited on 29/4/2005 by Kristomac]

Blanco to make "one more call"
 

Well all I have to say is i\'m sick of this soap opera. It has been saturated with to much ice whats the next flavor no ice please!!!!!!!!!! Anyhow basically what i\'m saying is maybe Benson is stalling negotioations because the season is coming up and it is just a distraction to the team. Maybe i\'m reading to much into things but thats what it seems like. Not only that there was suppose to be a deadline I beleive for the state to come up with an agreement or The state would honor the contract. You know this is not fair to the fans at all this retarded **** has gone on for 5 years now enough is enough.
I\'m getting to the point to where it is not even a threat the Saints moving it is just a joke to me in away. All I know is two things. One Los Angeles wants there own people. Local people from Los Angeles to run there franchise not Benson. Secondly the NFL wants a franchise in Los angeles bye 2008. All I know is I would not even bother even let the possibility of the Saints moving cross my mind anymore if you don\'t here it bye the end of this year it most likely will not happen. It takes more than two years to organise a franchise. Well we know one thing Minnesota is no longer a candidate to move to Los angeles. If anything I see the Saints moving to
San antonio.

Blanco to make "one more call"
 

blanco making one more call is her way to make sure the voters know she is trying everything posssible and that benson is just unreasonable. of course most people would side with her. benson is just a greedy old man. he should be willing to take what they offer. for god sakes he has enough money already. why does he need more. as our country continues to hate the rich. that should be the name of the soap opera. my god really dont we? isnt everything the politicains say about hurting the rich and helping the middle class and the poor. anyone in here who isnt poor ( probally almost all of us) should know better. christ the rich own corporations. they dont pay taxes until after their expenses. we all pay taxes before our expenses. almost all of us arent considered poor. this is who they tax. its not the poor or the rich its the middle class especially the upper midle class. its not like the elected officials have mediacre or social security. why are we counting on theese. have your own savings. man dont worry about the two new cars and the brand new 250000 dollar house. worry about how you can make money from your money. i would hope that anyone that reads this post would pick up a book called rich dad poor dad. do yourself a favor. honesty. i did at the advice of someone else and it has changed my life. what could it hurt to read it.

Blanco to make "one more call"
 

All due respect Billy - I think that this is a pretty \"simple\" way of looking at it.

Just consider what you said in a different context - The Saints agreed to pay Darren Howard $8 million this year. They should just honor that and stop the sob story about the salaey cap and signing other players. Howard got a good deal - why should he renegotiate to only make $2 millio or $4 million this season b/c the team has money problems????

Things just don\'t work that way in the real world, ESPECIALLY not in business. Modification of contract due to changing economic conditions probably happens 100 times a day in this country.

What is going on here is this:

Tom Benson swindled the State when Foster was in office. He knows that the has tricked the State and has the best sweetheart deal in the league, which is difficult at best and harmful at worst for the state. Now, rather than show that, in good faith, he will negotiate a new deal to keep the Saints here long-term that is beneficial to BOTH parties, he\'s willing to turn his back on the state and say \"tough sh!t.\" Only a car dealer could do that.


If your wife went and bought a $40,000 car for the two of you one day, and two weeks later the engine blew up, making the car utterly worthless - when you brought it to the dealership, would you want them to work with you, or turn their back and say, \"Sorry, you bought the car, it\'s your problem - your next payment is due in two week, and they better keep coming for 6 years!\"????

Blanco to make "one more call"
 

I don\'t understand you people!! Everyone on here is acting like the State is paying money out of it\'s pocket to keep the Saints here. The wails and moans and gnashing of teeth at the thought of poor starving children with no schools to go to, or roads to get there on is deafening....and completely ridiculous!!

The state makes a lot more money OFF the Saints than it PAYS the Saints.

If the Saints LEAVE the State will make NO money off the Saints, and there will be MORE hungry kids, and LESS schools, and WORSE roads. LESS tourism (and yes, a lot of teams fans come to New Orleans to see their teams play I know, I own a guest house), and less income to the State from all of the multimilliondollar salaries the players who live here make.

Don\'t you people realize how the National exposure New Orleans gets from a nationally televised Saints Game helps the State, regardless of wether we win or lose?!?!

St. Louis, Houston, Cleveland, and Baltimore all gave up their NFL Franchises rather than pay them incentives to stay. Every one of those cities had significant financial losses and paid HUGE ammounts to get a team Back. If New Orleans loses the Saints because of ignorant legislators who can\'t see the bottom line, New Orleans will NEVER get another team.

Blanco to make "one more call"
 

...oh, please...

... I bet you the State makes more the last 3 days of Mardi Gras than the entire football season...

.. I also bet that in a national poll, Mardi Gras, Bourbon Street, Jazz Fest, and maybe even the Sugar Bowl will be associated with New Orleans and the State of Louisiana before the Saints...

...how many conventions are held every year in new Orleans? How many proffesional football games?

... and those taxes on those multi-million dollar salaries (which really aren\'t that many) don\'t amount to that much. when you consider a state\'s budget...

... you may thing all this \"moaning and wailing\" is ridiculous, but just as ridiculous is to think that the Saints are some sort of bonanza to the State of Louisiana...

Blanco to make "one more call"
 

To the people who agree with the last post I have to say that your are a little misguded. Their is so much corruption with politians hands in state money that its not even funny. However your opinion is your right, and I respect that, but instead of bashing the saints for wanting a better deal, or saying that they are holding the state hostage or whatever, you all need to get in touch with the current state of the NFL. I agree that the saints are asking for alot of money, and it may be more money than we can afford. However the reality is, the saints are showing good faith by being willing to work this type of deal instead of demanding a new stadium. If you think thats ridiclus then OK, but most other teams are getting them, if they haven\'t got them already. It takes alot of money from the community to support an NFL franchise. Like I\'ve already said, it may be more than Louisiana can afford, but instead of bashing the saints then mabey we need to just rethink weither we can afford the NFL.

It sucks but thats the reality of the situation. If you don\'t believe that then you are out of touch with the current affaird within the NFL.

Blanco to make "one more call"
 

I never said the Saints were a huge cash cow for the State. My point is that the Saints generate more money for the State than the State pays to the Saints. If the Saints ever want more than they earn for the State, let them go, but as long as the State is making a profit by having them,it\'s MORONIC to get rid of them. WHATEVER profit the State earns is better than no profit at all.

Of all the discussion I\'ve seen on here about the evil Benson vs. The poor third world- poverty stricken- \"can\'t afford it\" State of Louisiana...no one ever addresses the fact that even if Blanco TRIPLED the annual payments to the Saints, the State would STILL make a profit from the revinue the Saints generate.

The Times Picayune reported two years ago that the Saints generated approximately 412 million/year of revinue/tax money for the state of Louisiana. The total payment the State promised to make to the Saints under the current contract total 375 million over the next 10 YEARS. CAN ANYBODY DO MATH?!?!?

Blanco to make "one more call"
 

Prove it.


The highest personal income tax bracket in Louisiana is 6%. That means of the $87 milllion dollars that the team pays its players, the MOST that the state CAN make is $5.25 million in taxes.

The highest corporate tax rate in Louisiana is 8%. If Benson is cooking his books, which I certainly expect (by that I mean he is using \'creative accounting\' to minimize his income as much as possible), then the state cannot be making more than about $2 million off of the Saints (at $25 million income).

Add in other executives and staff and maybe you get to $10 million in taxes from the team to the state.

How else do the Saints generate revenue for the state?

There is no tax on tickets to games and the Saints keep all revenue from ticket sales. The State pays to operate the Dome, and though the Saints pay a lease, they don\'t pay for the ticket takers or security or concession workers, but they do get all the revenue from concessions and suites and tickets, etc.


How else do they make money for the state?

Maybe through sales tax on merchandising, but there has been a lot of discussion as to whether that should count. If you don\'t spend your money on a ticket to a game and a t-shirt while you\'re there, does that mean you just won\'t spend it at all? Or does will you probably spend it doing something else?

Now, I just accounted for $10 million a year in direct money to the state. Where\'s the rest - JUST TO MEET THE PAYMENTS? You\'ve got to come up with another $5 to $15 million just to meet the payments to the Saints, let alone show that they make money. Go ahead and explain that to me.


There have also been a number of INDEPENDANT research studies about the economic impact of professional franchises on a town and state. Most of the ones not sponsored by a league or team have come back with estimates saying that professional franchises have little to no positive economic impact on a place. They provide jobs and entertainment, but they don\'t pour money into the economy as they claim. They simply redirect money that was already there.


PS - links to tax rates
http://www.taxfoundation.org/louisiana/

Blanco to make "one more call"
 

Just curious, I know this my be a silly question, but Who Dat do you really believe what you just wrote in your last post? I\'m sure you do, and thats cool we all have our own opinion and thats fine, but really, do you think that the saints have little to no economic impact to the Louisiana economy? I\'m not an economist, and you know its all really just opionion I guess, but come on you really cant believe that the saints have little to no impact to the economy. Or for that matter that any NFL team has little to no economic impact. If thats the case then why was Baltimore crying for a new franchise only a couple of years after the colts left, and Huston did the same. Actually I followed the issue in Huston alot closer than the situation in Baltamore, and the fans and community leaders were in Huston were saying the same things that people in Louisana are saying abou the saints. But you know only a couple of years after the Oilers left the people of Huston were at the point that they would do whatever it took to get another franchise.

Do you think this is because the teams in Baltimore and Huston had little to no economic impact? Mabey the people of those citys just really didn\'t need the money they dished out for new stadums and incentives to lure new teams there so they decided to throw that money away by giving it to the NFL.

Blanco to make "one more call"
 

I don\'t have the patience to crunch the numbers, but I can only speak for myself and assume my case is not unique...

Last season, while living in Birmingham, my wife and I attended 5 of the team\'s 8 home games in New Orleans. Each time, we left Birmingham after work on Friday and spent the weekend in the Quarter. Not only did we buy tickets to the game, but we had to pay up for two nights in a hotel (which is HEAVILY taxed), food and drinks at various establishments, entertainment, cover charges, merchandise, parking, gas, etc. etc. etc. Car rentals didn\'t apply to us, but they do apply to many and are also HEAVILY taxed.

Not all this money went to the State, nor did it all go to the Saints. Both shared the considerable wealth generated simply by a couple spending a few weekends in the city in order to catch a game on Sunday. Were there no game, we most likely wouldn\'t have come to New Orleans (or Louisiana) at all. Sure, we would\'ve spent the money elsewhere ... but the State of Louisiana wouldn\'t have made a dime off us if the Saints weren\'t there.

I\'ve said before in these discussions that New Orleans is one of the better cities in America for a professional franchise ... at least from a fan\'s standpoint. Few cities offer such attraction in the way of nightlife, tourism, history, and simple convenience. You can walk to the Dome from the French Quarter, while most team\'s stadiums are farther outside their respective downtown areas.

I doubt many say to their wives or buddies, \"Hey, let\'s hit Charlotte for a fun weekend and catch a Panthers game on Sunday.\" Nothing against Charlotte, but the attraction simply isn\'t there. I do, however, think that there must be others who like the idea of a weekend in New Orleans prior to watching their team kick the carp outta us. Heck, there were a TON of obnoxious Tampa Bay and Atlanta fans that readily stick out in my mind. Maybe not enough of them, I guess...


[Edited on 1/5/2005 by mutineer10]

Blanco to make "one more call"
 

Sorry, Whodat...didn\'t realize you were an economist. Allow me to turn you on to a REAL economist. Dr. Tim Ryan, an economist, Dean of the School of Business, and recently made chancellor of UNO who consults the City, State AND the Saints. He published a report in 2002 that kinda disagrees with your scholarly comments above. You can find it on neworleanssaints.com...There are a lot of very acidic and vocal opinions and conjecture on here unsubstantiated, so how bout some research by an expert: Here\'s the link:

http://www.neworleanssaints.com/docs...er_summary.doc

The last line of the report is fascinating: \"Finally, the state of Louisiana will lose $172.24 million of state tax revenue if the team were to leave New Orleans.\"
Joesam: Is it a personal attack to disagree with a moderator? Will I get kicked off the board for suggestiing someone didn\'t do their research before telling me I\'m wrong?
[Edited on 1/5/2005 by Kristomac]

[Edited on 1/5/2005 by Kristomac]

[Edited on 1/5/2005 by Kristomac]

Blanco to make "one more call"
 

Kristomac, that sounds like a personal attack to me. You might want to consider lightening up. Personal attacks are not allowed.

Blanco to make "one more call"
 

[If your wife went and bought a $40,000 car for the two of you one day, and two weeks later the engine blew up, making the car utterly worthless - when you brought it to the dealership, would you want them to work with you, or turn their back and say, \"Sorry, you bought the car, it\'s your problem - your next payment is due in two week, and they better keep coming for 6 years!\"????]

WHODAT- that is exactly what they will tell you. you have to fix the car and you still owe the money. that is why you sign the contract. the only way you are protected is if they gave you a warranty or you purchased one