RE: Benson breaks silence, fires back at State
 

Did anyone forget that Benson raised the ticket prices about 15%? Coming off of a stellar year and a playoff victory, 15% is about what any greedy bastard would grab. What does that make the NFL's finance committee chairman that he raises ticket prices on an underachieving team in the middle of a statewide recession? Thank god this man's on the side of the common people of Louisiana who only want to see their Saints play.

RE: Benson breaks silence, fires back at State
 

Yeah - here's another interesting fact that Tom Benson won't tell you.

In 2004, the Saints season ticket prices were, on average, $42.36 - third LOWEST in the NFL.
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articl...1/ai_n10176386

Hhmm - maybe Tom Benson is looking out for the little guy after all, right? The average ticket price in the NFL was $54.75 last year, so Tom's nearly 20% lower. Even with the $10 per seat increase in 2005, the team will still sell seats at below the league average for last season. Tom's not such a bad guy after all.

Until you do a little more thinking...

Average ticket price doesn't factor in measures like cost of living. This year, a $53 ticket for a Saints game adjusted for cost of living in Chicago, where I currently live, would cost me roughly $85. The cheapest seat in the brand new Soldier Field is $50 - which is roughly $30 in New Orleans money. The cheapest seat in the Super Dome is $35. Moreover, the Bears offer tickets at a wide and incremental price range. The cheapest seat is $50, but then you have these other options: 3 different seating areas for $55, 1 for $65, 1 for $70, $75, 2 for $80, $83, 2 for $85... The Saints offer seats at $35, $60, $72, $74, $80, $83, $89... etc.

So technically, adjusted for cost of living, for what it would cost a New Orleans resident to see a Saints game from the Terrace (upper) level sideline, I could see a Bears game from the lower level sideline of Soldier field - again that's the relative cost, not the actual.

RE: Benson breaks silence, fires back at State
 

What is the motive of any business in this country? Answer: To make as much money as humanly possible and what the market will bear.
What is the motive of any politician? Answer: To get re-elected, i.e. job security.
Both parties in this issue are acting on greedy self serving motives. The fans and specifically their money are caught in the middle.

I personally don't blame Tom Benson for trying to get as much money as he can. Why stop doing something that has made him extremely wealthy for the past 20 years?

I also don't blame the state for saying enough is enough. In a financially poor state it is impossible to keep meeting financial demands like this.

I feel the onus falls on the league in this case. They are willing to put up $700 - $800MM to get a team back in L.A. but won't do a thing to keep the Saints in New Orleans by helping with the costs of a new stadium that will keep us competitive. Everyone knows that the three premere locations to host a Superbowl are New Orleans, Miami, and Las Vegas. Las Vegas can't host one due the fact that the NFL will never put a team there. If the NFL loses the Saints in New Orleans it just lost one of it's two best options for SuperBowl locations.
Somebody needs to explain to me why a league that makes billions of dollars would risk losing a prime Superbowl city like New Orleans for a few hundred million dollar investment in a new stadium.

Very good question stockman.

Re: RE: Benson breaks silence, fires back at State
 

... you already answered your own question whit your first statement..

... Orleans Parish has about 500,000 people...
...L.A. County has 10,000,000

...not only that, the purchasing power of people in L.A. County is much higher than that of the people in Orleans Parish..

..how much more money do you think the NFL can get from TV deals (networks, cable, DirecTV, etc) if they present the possibility of 10,000,000 viewers vs the possibility of 500,000 viewers?

... obviously not everyone in those counties is a football fan...

.. How many fans do you think the Saints have who actively spend money on Saints related purchases? 100,000? 200,000? 300,000? Even if you include Alabama and Mississippi.. 400,000? 500,000? 500,000 is but 5% of 10,000,000...

RE: Re: RE: Benson breaks silence, fires back at State
 

Regardless of the numbers difference, there is something wrong in LA. Why else would two NFL teams leave, if it were as profitable as claimed? Davis returned to Oakland from LA and Fontiere moved to St. Louis in search of more money. What is St. Louis compared to LA? Apparently it is a place where a team can make money because of an interested fan base which in my opinion will always make LA a loser for the NFL because it lacks the interested fan base.

I certainly don't have all the answers and can't explain the anomolly, but it is there. A the beginning of the '90s there were two teams there. By the end of the '90s the were none. There must be some reason to account for this.

RE: Re: RE: Benson breaks silence, fires back at State
 

How many times has L.A. had a team and lost it? I can think of 2 occasions off the top of my head.
Those fruit cakes could care less about football out there. Those 10 million people can't even sell out an 80,000 seat stadium.
Our base may be small in New Orleans, but everyone is passionate about our team as shown by our attendace with a very bad team for 30 years.

The NFL cannot afford to lose New Orleans as a SuperBowl site and thus should be throwing some cash our way to keep us competitive. If they want a team in L.A. let them move the Cardinals or Chargers whose fans don't attend their games anyway.

Re: RE: Re: RE: Benson breaks silence, fires back at State
 

I totally agree. I will say this over and over again... they don't support football in L.A., they don't support football in L.A., they don't support football in L.A.

Football is not the major past time in California. The Bay area is the only place football is big with San Fran and Oakland. And that's pro football mind you, when did you ever see a packed college game in California... and please don't talk about USC, until they started winning they averaged like 20 to 30 thousand per game.

And another thing, I just don't think Benson will leave.

And another thing, I think you guys are a bunch of negative hardballers. You sound like a bunch of grumpy old men. Go poop on yourself.

I QUIT!

Having spent a regrettable year in LA during the 2000 season, I can relate that the football fans there (and you have to understand that soccer is the football of choice by the majority of the population) were happy to have as many as 6 options for watching NFL on Sunday. Most were happy with that scenario as opposed to being blacked out entirely on one channel because neither the Rams nor the Raiders sold out, cutting their options in half. Despite having good teams, playoff teams, no one went, no one watched, no one bought merchandise. Sometimes the marketplace is right. Maybe the NFL should quit trying to market a product line that just won't sell.

I hope Benson relocates so that the value of his franchise crashes.

Re: RE: Benson breaks silence, fires back at State
 

I tend to disagree with this statement. Businessmen are out to make money, but not at all costs. There is such a thing as business ethics and responsible business practices. If you had a business, would you be willing to lie to millions of people simply to make more money? Being in business does not erase moral and ethical requirements - but it sure does seem those who set the ethical bar lower tend to get a lot further in business, doesn't it?