DomeFoam

You guys must be sleeping, what's the deal? Why isn't anyone posting about this?

http://www.nola.com/saints/t-p/index...8624258780.xml

Saints want Dome renovation deal
Team would get cash and remain to 2020

Wednesday, November 17, 2004
By Jeff Duncan
Staff writer

The Saints today will launch a campaign for a new long-term agreement with the state that focuses on a Superdome renovation instead of a new stadium, but also continues annual cash inducements for the team in exchange for a commitment to remain in Louisiana through 2020, two sources said.

A team release announcing today's news conference said Saints owner Tom Benson would "outline a broad vision for the team in order to remain in New Orleans for the long term." The news conference is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. at the team's Metairie headquarters.

Saints officials said Tuesday that they would withhold all comments until today's meeting, but two team sources said that Benson's vision focuses on a plan to renovate the Superdome and extend the team's contract with the state through 2020. The plan also proposes that the Dome renovation be part of a multifaceted economic development package that includes projects in eastern New Orleans and Jefferson Parish.

Though the Saints remain open to a new stadium, sources said team officials recognize there is little economic or public support for such a facility, estimated to cost at least $450 million.

Gov. Kathleen Blanco said last month that she favors renovating the Dome. The cost of the projects the Saints will propose today, as well as potential financing sources, will be announced in a state-financed study to be released in two weeks, sources said. The Saints have played in the Dome since 1975. It is the seventh-oldest stadium in the NFL. Team officials say the club needs the revenue streams created by a renovated Superdome or new stadium to remain competitive financially with the rest of the NFL while existing in one of the league's smallest and most economically challenged markets.

Benson has pushed for a new stadium since 2001, when the Legislature approved $186.5 million in incentives and payments to the Saints to keep them in the Dome through 2010. The deal includes inducements and revenue guarantees that started at $12.5 million a year and rise to $23.5 million in 2008. But the revenue streams intended to cover those payments have fallen short of estimates, which last summer forced the state to take $7 million from an economic development fund to make this year's $15 million payment.


Eliminating 'out clauses'

Under the proposed agreement, sources said the Saints are willing to eliminate all the so-called "out clauses" in the current deal, which allow either side to terminate the agreement before it is completed, if a new deal can be struck.

The current lease agreement allows the Saints to leave after the 2005 season by paying back the $81 million they received during the first four years of the agreement.

The state can opt out of the deal after 2007 if officials don't want to guarantee the $23.5 million annual inducements that begin in 2008.

In their presentation today, the Saints will detail a new plan that extends the team's Superdome lease from 2010 to 2020 -- but also continues the annual cash inducements.

The plan proposes an economic development package comprising both public and private projects. Among them:

-- A 25-acre tailgate park, stretching along Poydras Street from the Superdome to Broad Street. Cost estimates for the park range from $5 million to $10 million.

-- A state-operated high school football and soccer facility to be built on Six Flags New Orleans property in eastern New Orleans.

-- Development of 8 acres of Jefferson Parish land between the Saints training facility and Zephyr Field on Airline Drive. Benson wants to build a hotel and move the Saints Hall of Fame to the property, which is owned by Jefferson Parish and leased to the state through the Superdome Commission.

-- A sports-themed redevelopment of the New Orleans Shopping Centre mall connected to the Superdome. The project would include an NFL-theme restaurant and team gift shop. A team source said the idea already has been received favorably by Hertz Investment Group of Los Angeles, which bought the property last year.

Benson, director of administration Arnold Fielkow, Chief Financial Officer Dennis Lauscha, executive/owner Rita Benson LeBlanc and Benson attorney Stanley Rosenberg will attend the 30-minute presentation. Sources said only a handful of Saints officials and elected officials have seen the presentation, a copy of which they said is being sent to Blanco today, along with a request to begin negotiations.


Super Bowl decision

The Saints plan to propose a Feb. 1 deadline to reach an agreement. That would give the team time to lobby state officials before the legislative session in April and finalize a presentation to bring a future Super Bowl to New Orleans.

New Orleans is expected to compete with Los Angeles, New York City and Washington, D.C., for either the 2009 or 2010 Super Bowl. The league plans to award those games at its spring meeting May 23-26.

The NFL will not award a Super Bowl to New Orleans without a signed long-term agreement, sources said.

The Saints proposal comes as the NFL is studying ways to place a team in Los Angeles. The Saints, Indianapolis Colts and Minnesota Vikings are the franchises most eligible to move because of their current lease arrangements. The 32-team league has no plans to add an expansion franchise.

NFL officials have expressed a desire to have a team in Los Angeles by 2008, meaning a new long-term agreement between the Saints and the state would effectively end the club's potential to relocate to California.