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SI.com Ranks the NFL Owners

#32 Tom Benson

Last and least is Benson, the car salesman who both mismanages his franchise and doesn't appear all that stressed about adding to the misery of a suffering region. Before Tagliabue stepped in and decreed that the Saints would return to New Orleans -- at least for now -- Benson seemed content to remain in San Antonio, where he coincidentally has a home, while casting a wistful eye toward the L.A. market. So for the time being Benson will be bringing his ridiculous 'Boogie' back to the Superdome and hoping that karma doesn't actually exist.

Complete story....
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/200...ike/index.html

RE: SI.com Ranks the NFL Owners

so which one of you guys has a couple hundred million laying around to buy the team???

RE: SI.com Ranks the NFL Owners

I dont care how many teams are in the league, 32 is still isnt near low enough

Re: RE: SI.com Ranks the NFL Owners

Oh Come on Give me a F*&^%ING BREAK. Last place? No way.

Georgia Frontiere did it to the Rams, Art Modell did it to the Browns. Benson talked about it but it never happened ... and he had Katrina deal him a financial death blow. For whatever reason, (Tag, or Rita, or a combination of the 2), he stayed, then he turned around and has done a lot of good things since. Give the man a break. if he does end up leaving, then CRUCIFY him, but don't rate him last for what he thought about doing, and not after all the good things he has done since he came back. Halo's quote is below. LOT of worse owners in the NFL than Benson.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Halo

And here's one you won't see often on this site - a congratulatory kudos to Saints owner Tom Benson. Tommy Boy, you've taken some pretty bone-headed stances over the last couple of years, but when given the opportunity to draft someone of Bush's caliber, you told your guys to make it happen. Saints fans haven't been this excited since the playoff win over the Rams six years ago. You gave Saints fans a reason to believe and to buy season tickets. From what I've heard, they're going to be selling like hot cakes.

The pick also gives fans a reason to have FAITH that you do intend to keep the Saints in New Orleans. When presented an opportunity to trade down and get someone at a lower price, you rejected it and went with the more expensive - and right - move for the Saints, their fans, and the city of New Orleans. The team will be better just for having such a tremendous offensive weapon in its arsenal. The fans, who have been through so much, are thrilled with their team's potential. And the Superdome will be packed every Sunday this fall, providing a boost to New Orleans' economy.

So Tom Benson, I say great job. Keep up the good work, and keep fighting the good fight. Because you won't see passion from fans anywhere else in the country like you saw Saturday afternoon when Reggie Bush donned the fleur-de-lis for the first time, and when he made his first appearance in Metairie.

The Reggie Bush Pick may well be remembered as the moment that truly saved the Saints from relocation. And, with a little help from Houston, Tommy Boy made it happen.

RE: Re: RE: SI.com Ranks the NFL Owners

NOSaints, you're right, Benson has done some good things for this franchise. But I think you can justify giving him a #32 ranking simply for the fact that he almost made the opportunistic move of taking the Saints out of New Orleans for good. And he would have too, if it wasn't for Tagliabue. I think any man who even CONSIDERS taking a city's football team away from them in the middle of a season when the city has just been hit with the worst natural disaster in the nation's history is just despicable. He's a disgusting car salesman, and no matter how much propaganda he might put out, all he cares about is that bottom line. In football, TODAY, Tom Benson has to be the worst owner. When a city has just lost billions of dollars and hundreds or thousands of lives, you don't worry about making a few extra millions; you should be worrying about how you can help.

I also read an article in today's USAToday about the Saints in which Benson said that he was still keeping his options open for the future of the franchise. The guy is heartless. A good businessman, but heartless, gutless, disgusting. I thank him for keeping the Saints here, but his heart isn't in it (because he doesn't have one) and he doesn't give two craps about his fans.

RE: Re: RE: SI.com Ranks the NFL Owners

While Halo's faint praise has merit, having the "guts" to draft Bush doesn't lift him out of the gutter. If he is planning to run, then New Orleans attendance based on the Bush factor is irrelevant to him. What would be more important is the Bush factor where he wants to land. He would be considered an idiot not to increase the marketing value to the franchise by adding Bush ESPECIALLY if he intends to relocate when Bush is in his prime.

However, he did lower ticket prices, which people seem to have missed here, and he is "regionalizing" his marketing effort to maximize exposure in the Gulf, which he hadn't done before. However, he's been on the periphery of economic recovery and has made no real visible effort to shape the political process despite ample pleading and opportunity. Unless I'm missing something he's done, on which I hope to be set straight.

Re: RE: SI.com Ranks the NFL Owners

Quote:

Originally Posted by jergensl

so which one of you guys has a couple hundred million laying around to buy the team???

I say we start some kind of Saints Fan money drive..... lets start saving to keep saints here... lets see if every 1 puts up 5 dollars on this site ... so then it will be + saint sfans every where then the othe rppl...... ummm well...... maybe 1 of us will win the lottery..... twice.....

RE: Re: RE: SI.com Ranks the NFL Owners

We gotta flip a lotta burgers, A/S, to get to $950 Mil. Good luck with that lottery thing.

Hmm, do we forget Benson is taking somewhere close to 20 mil a year, and climbing, from a poor state when his team was at one point had the 8th most revenue in the league? Do we forget this is a deal he brokered at least THREE times since his original deal with the state, going back before the deal is up and demanding more handouts? Do we forget him saying the practice facility he pays $1 a year for was totally trashed, when it obviously wasn't? Do we forget he threatened to leave to get Mike Foster to give him the new deal? Do we forget he agreed to a renovated dome, then when the state came up with a plan, he says no deal I want a new stadium or I am leaving? Do we forget he floated that he got offers to move the team to San Antonio BEFORE the hurricane, long before, as well as New MExico, and he floated there was a billion dollar offet to buy the team in L.A.? Do we forget Tags had to FORCE him to come back here? Do we forget he REFUSED to do anything about Haz or Venturi when we were obviously not going anywhere with either? And that's just off the top of my head. Benson is a scumbag, a sleazy car salesman. Yeah he did some good things this off-season, but if a bully beats your ass every day, then one day he doesn't, do you instantly forget all the other teams he kicked the crap out of you, or are you still leery? Well, count me as still leery.

Tell You What I will Do For You Today And Today Only..... the car sales man's #1 slogan. He plays way to many money games on paper to trust. he is a one of a kind owner. #33l

Gotta agree with Whodi here. Benson has done some nice things as of late, but you can't just forget all the times he pi$$ed on your boots. I don't think anyone in their right mind would actually believe that Bensen would stay if he hadn't been forced to. Hey, thankyou for making some great decisions lately, but I don't believe that Bensen is through trying to move the team. Until I see some real commitment to the state of Louisiana and the city of New Orleans, Bensen is still the "OLD" Bensen......he's just been nice lately so he wouldn't get his AZZ kicked everytime he stepped foot in public.

I do sincerly hope that he is committed to the city and the state. I just don't believe it yet.

Mr Benson -earned- his rank of #32. He earned it in 2000, when he fired Randy Mueller. Randy had just traded away Ricky Williams for two first rounders.... seems like prescience now. But not to Mr Benson. No, Mr Benson, in his infinite football wisdom, fired Randy Mueller for making a good football decision. And thereby took us from a playoff caliber team right back down to the dog muck we usually call our team.

Mr Benson is ranked number 32 of 32 team owners. He deserves to be lower, however.

I've said before, and I still believe it, that this team will never really have a true chance at success until Mr. Benson dies.