LKelley67

what about a pay-for-pay plan. graduated millions per team success? state pays something like this-

$1 million per win in regular season

then bonuses-

qualify for playoffs as wildcard +$1mil

nfc south title +$2mil

then win one playoff game +$5mil

or nfc champiosnship +$10mil

or superbowl win +$20mil

4-12= $4mil
9-7 wildcard, one playoff win= $15mil
12wins + division title + win superbowl= $34mil

ya think that might be enough motivation for organizational success?

saintswhodi

Holy crap, that is a pretty damn good idea IMO. Shell out some money to win Tommy boy and you will definitely get it back in spades. Keep playing poor and you won\'t see hardly anything. Sounds good to me. Of course these figures would have to be revisited once the dome is renovated as the team would already generate more revenue for itself at that point, but as far as this being an amendment to the existing deal, hell yeah.

ScottyRo

Holy carp, he\'ll never go for it! Why would he when this team could go 0-16 in \'05 and he\'d still get his $17M next year?

Euphoria

actually lets try this... what if the state funds the team buys all tickets with tax payers money and we hold a lotto every year for season tickets, no wait this is Louisiana we are talking about something will get crooked.

LKelley67

hey, shouldn\'t season tickets be tax deductible when ya think about it? LOL NFL Dish package?

my reasoning on the numbers is that if benson could get a real contending team on the field the state would pay more than the 17mil, sorta like double down. the euphoria would be so great people wouldn\'t care how legislators got it done in that scenario.

i know it may not be realistic but i do think the non football fan general public would find the pay for performance concept much more palatable than being held over a barrel for the legacy of this franchise as it now stands.

progress

Based on what your saying, Entergy Corporation should see a decrease in their tax breaks if oil prices rise (higher energy prices = unhappy consumer), and an increase when energy cost decrease (lower energy cost = happy consumer).
Many people want to base wether or not the state should pay to keep the Saints on their on the field performance. (Wins = happy consumer / Loss = unhappy consumer)
From what your saying, it benifits the state for the saints to be a losing franchise. After all, the state will collect roughly the same in taxes wether the Saints win or lose, while only having to give what is essentially a rebate only when the Saints win.
Many people have this misconception that the state is just giving the Saints money. The state is simply returning some of what they\'ve gotten. The New Orleans Saints are a business that benefits the entire state. Even those from north Louisiana have to realize the money generated by the Saints goes into the state\'s general fund.
I want to see a winner as bad as anyone, but we have to remember that this is professional football. Therefore, its a business. The state giving Tom Benson 17 million a year isn\'t going to make the difference in the Saints getting to the Superbowl, afterall there is a salary cap that no team can go over no matter how much excess money they have. The money is simply what it will take to keep a major corporation in Louisiana, by providing them with the resources to stay competitive in this region, i.e. building a traning facility on airline hwy, aiding in dome renovation, etc.

[Edited on 3/5/2005 by progress]

LKelley67

yup, agreed generally progress. my post was somewhat tongue in cheek. it might benefit an area enough to grant some sort of subsidy to attract or keep a local business. that benefit is indeed here but i think too few people can see it. it is an easy political football to use the class warfare card. it is usually punctuated with \"they haven\'t done squat as a team either\" by both the politicians and the non-fan types. if approximately the same money was doled out in response to performance, those groups would be much quieter and more accepting of the arrangement, benefit to the state being a reality or not.
on the other hand the primary goal of a business is profit. some corporations get subsidies and still cannot do it. the goal of a nfl team is to win. imo, this franchise has fallen short of it\'s goal in that regard. i see the current arrangement only encouraging a lackadaisical ownership approach that puts the bottomline above wins. it is established that benson is no al davis-jerry jones in his passion for the game to start with. also, winning in today\'s nfl goes far beyond player salaries. sure there was the 4 games won at the end of last season that might have made keeping haslett more reasonable. do not think benson didn\'t consider the cost of buying out his contract either though. also, he would have to pay the salary of a new staff. saban got what? 7million?! the owners are constrained by the cap in regard to players but there are astronomical differences of operational budgets between the tightwads and the win at any cost owners.

---not of great relevance, but do you guys remember when all the hubbub about saban being courted by miami was front page in december? when benson was asked if he would consider saban his response was- \"I DID\'NT EVEN KNOW HE WAS LOOKING FOR A NEW JOB.\" i can still go wowie over that. we live in anguish over if talman gardner can be a reliable #3 or 4 receiver. i wonder if he can name a #3 at any position.