Tom Benson Thinking of Moving Saints to San Antonio Permanently

[smeagol]

Talking about luring the Saints to SA so soon after this tragedy has occured (they are still counting the bodies, for Goddsakes!) does not seem right.

[TOP-CHERRY]

Talking about luring the Saints to SA so soon after this tragedy has occured (they are still counting the bodies, for Goddsakes!) does not seem right.
So, is talking about the Spurs so soon after the tragedy not right also?
It's not like this is the first time the Saints moving to SA has been discussed. The owner's always wanted to do that way before the hurricane. It just so happens he now has a bigger opportunity to do that.

[TOP-CHERRY]

...and we're excited that there's a chance it might happen. So let us be.

[smeagol]

So, is talking about the Spurs so soon after the tragedy not right also?
It's not like this is the first time the Saints moving to SA has been discussed. The owner's always wanted to do that way before the hurricane. It just so happens he now has a bigger opportunity to do that.
You have your opinion and I have mine. I don't think its right. You obviously do.

[Kori Ellis]

FYI, regarding what Don Harris said on the 10pm news last night. Yes, he said 4 games would be played in S.A. And no, it's not completely confirmed yet.

[Extra Stout]

No, it's amazing that you think 10 minutes of research makes you knowledgable on a subject. Knowledgeable? Hardly. More knowledgeable than you? Easily. Nothing you say makes sense.


Not only are you fucking ignorant of the cities you have lived your entire life in...but you are ignorant of the Mexican Culture as well. What the fuck do you know about the cities I have lived in? What the fuck do you know about anything?


Spoken like a true Redneck...who thinks Houston is a cultural Mecca. Wow... that's pretty clueless. Do you seriously think San Antonio holds a candle to Houston or Dallas when it comes to culture, be it art, music, performing arts, cuisine, or anything else?

It doesn't. It's not even close. It can't come close because it's not big enough and there aren't enough different kinds of people there to spark it. Shit, Austin has a stronger cultural scene than San Antonio. Somehow you missed that even though you live there.

Meanwhile, no Texas city compares to the unique mixture of cultures that made New Orleans what it was. And yet, you thought that SA and NO were twins and that NO evacuees would find SA familiar because both of them had Canary Islanders at one time and both practice flood control. Go take your Metamucil.

What the hell do you define as "culture?" Tourist traps? Dams and levees? Bodies of water?

[CosmicCowboy]

Another Saints Season Ruined Before It Begins

NEW ORLEANS—Front-office executives of the New Orleans Saints football team provided a much-needed dose of normalcy Monday when they announced that, for the 23rd year running, the Saints season had been ruined before it began. "I'd say this is even worse than when Mike Ditka traded away all our draft picks to get Ricky Williams," said Saints vice president of pro-personnel operations Bill Kuharich. "But there's one thing we Saints can always rely on: our chances for a winning season being shitcanned before we play a single down. We're proud to have carried on with this tradition despite everything." The National Football League has declined the Saints' "mercy rule" request to be allowed to forfeit all their home games, saying the team must set an example for its home city by being blown out in every contest.

[TheWriter]

Saints, city talk about four games

Web Posted: 09/08/2005 10:29 AM CDT

Tom Orsborn
Express-News Staff Writer

Discussions are ongoing among the New Orleans Saints, the NFL and the city to play at least four games at the Alamodome this season, sources close to the situation told the San Antonio Express-News today.

The Saints, who open the season Sunday against the Carolina Panthers, will play their "home opener" against the New York Giants on Sept. 19 at Giants Stadium. An NFL spokesman said no announcements are expected today concerning the team's other seven home games.

The options are San Antonio and Baton Rouge, La. Sources say the league is considering allowing the Saints to play three games at LSU’s Tiger Stadium.

Saints owner Tom Benson expressed gratitude this morning to the city for allowing the team to move its base here for what will likely be the rest of the season.

"I don’t know what the NFL would have done if San Antonio hadn’t taken us in," Benson said. "We are really grateful to San Antonio for all they’ve done."

Former San Antonio Mayor and U.S. Housing Secretary Henry Cisneros on Wednesday assured NFL officials that the displaced Saints could expect to play before significant – if not capacity - crowds at the Alamodome this season.

Concerned about reports that the league fears attendance will be low if it allows the Saints to play at the 65,000-seat building, Cisneros called the NFL office in New York to dispel rumors about San Antonio’s lack of enthusiasm for the Saints.

"There was a rumor that the city would do well to sell 20,000 tickets for Saints games," Cisneros said. "I believe we would sell 50,000 just upon the announcement that the Saints would play here.

"I have every reason to believe that Saints games would be successful here, and that is what I conveyed to the league."

Cisneros’ effort coincided with the strongest statement yet by a member of the Saints organization about the team’s desire to play in San Antonio this season.

"I think this football team needs to play here," Coach Jim Haslett said.

"This is where we’re practicing. … (The players) know we’re practicing here, so we’d like to play here. They would like to see their families on Saturday. They would like to be around their families one day a week, because you don’t see them at all (the rest of the week). So, more than anything, I think that’s the most important thing for them."

The Saints will likely base their operations in San Antonio for the remainder of the season after Hurricane Katrina and massive flooding left their hometown in ruins.

"Preferably, we would like to play in San Antonio because that’s were our families are," receiver Joe Horn said.

In a statement released Tuesday, Saints owner Tom Benson said he had expressed to the league his "desire to … play games in Baton Rouge, La., to the extent circumstances allow."

Benson’s qualification refers to the fact that Baton Rouge, home to LSU’s Tiger Stadium, is housing thousands of evacuees and is a major base for Hurricane Katrina rescue and relief efforts.

Sources say Benson shares Haslett’s opinion. One source close to Benson, who has strong business and personal ties to San Antonio, has said Benson even wants to relocate his team to the Alamo City.

Benson said Wednesday night he does not know where his team will play.

"I have no idea," Benson said. "I just can’t give you anything. I wish I could tell you something."

Cisneros, who has repeatedly expressed his concern that San Antonio’s first priority in the wake of the Hurricane Katrina disaster should be caring for evacuees, said he called the league office "just so (NFL officials) would not make a decision based on bad information."

Cisneros, housing secretary in the Clinton Administration, said he also tried to convey to the league that the city is "very different" than it was in 1999 when the NFL last studied San Antonio as a potential market.

"I described our economic situation, corporate base, size and our growth," Cisneros said. "This is an NFL city. But beside that point, we certainly would have a respectable presence in the Alamodome for Saints games."

Reached earlier in the day, a league spokesman said the NFL believes San Antonio "would do a fine job (with attendance)."

But Greg Aiello, NFL vice president of public relations, also said Baton Rouge remains the league’s No. 1 option.

One option that has been ruled out is having the Saints play on the road for home games against division opponents.

"Louisiana officials are making it very clear they think it would be important to return the Saints to the region as soon as possible," Aiello said.

"The question is, when will that be?" Aiello said. "(LSU officials) will have to tell us."

The Saints’ next home game is Oct. 2 against Buffalo.

"The goal is LSU and Baton Rouge," Aiello said. "Whether it will be ready for Oct. 2, we don’t know."

Still, Aiello said San Antonio remains an option for "some" games.

"It depends on the circumstances," Aiello said. "We have to see what the issues are in terms of playing in Louisiana."

http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/stories/MYSA090805.saints.en.397c9cd1.html

[TheWriter]

Don Harris just said that the Alamo Builders Expo in the Dome that was scheduled for the weekend of the Saints/Bills game has been moved.

Which pretty much means the game will be in the Dome.

[Horry For 3!]

They cleared up dates and are fixing up the Dome so they can hold 4 Saints games here. I will most likely be at one of them. :tu

[whottt]

Knowledgeable? Hardly. More knowledgeable than you? Easily. Nothing you say makes sense.

What the fuck do you know about the cities I have lived in? What the fuck do you know about anything?

Extra Light...

When it comes to culture? Seeing as how I have degree in anthopology, specializing in the subfield of cultural anthropology, and have also spent a fair amount of time studying the various archaelogical and historical sites in Texas, including the big one in San Antonio, when I lived there when I was going to school...a hell of a lot more than you do, Google boy.

Now while that degree may be worth exactly shit as a viable career...I'll be damned if I am going to let some idiot get over on me on a fucking message board forum. Eat shit...perferably your own...you could use the brain power.


Look...the magnitude of what you don't know...is fucking mindnumbing. I don't even know where to begin. It's like trying to argue with someone but first having to teach them English. Fuck that. I'd rather Google do it for me.

You have alread admitted that you don't know shit other than what you have googled...so really there is no point in arguing with a moron who both alternately admits he doesn't know shit and then tries to google his way into the illusion that he does.


But since I can't stand to see a dumb animal suffering...


Wow... that's pretty clueless. Do you seriously think San Antonio holds a candle to Houston or Dallas when it comes to culture, be it art, music, performing arts, cuisine, or anything else?


Idiot...that's a vary narrow definition....and the cities you named are hardly unique or diverse compared to major American cities...much less each other.

San Antonio and New Orleans OTOH...are very unique...and the question you must ask yourself is why...

Your superficial explanation that you came up with...after googling in an attempt to cover for a previously stupid comment, isn't accurate.



IOW douche...basketball, apple pie and a museum with a couple of chinese food restaurants thrown in for good measure is hardly diversity in America, not that SA and NO lack those things....


Now you also have a very narrow view of the Mexican culture..and I don't really think I can fix that...In fact I won't even try. But just realize those Mexicans you generalized are themselves a product of a mass, complex and electic cultural brew...


In regards to San Antonio, in your terms...there are alot of fucking cities that have a lot of Mexican and little bit of German, in Texas...and they aren't like fucking San Antonio. Do you get it now?






It doesn't. It's not even close. It can't come close because it's not big enough and there aren't enough different kinds of people there to spark it. Shit, Austin has a stronger cultural scene than San Antonio. Somehow you missed that even though you live there.

Austin is kind of unique in that it's the most liberal city in a conservative state...but by and large Austin is a typical American city culturally. Nothing extraordinarly unique or diverse about it comparitively. It's homogenous America.


Meanwhile, no Texas city compares to the unique mixture of cultures that made New Orleans what it was. And yet, you thought that SA and NO were twins and that NO evacuees would find SA familiar because both of them had Canary Islanders at one time and both practice flood control. Go take your Metamucil.


Never said it..I said they are twins, in part because of their uniqueness and cultural evolution...I clearly said they were not indentical twins...

You then thought you were something special because you fucking knew that the Mississippi was a big ass river and that New Orleans was a port down...I honestly think you felt you knew something because you realized that New Orleans has a lot of black folk, while San Antonio has a lot of brown. Since then you've basically been looking at superficial factors in an attempt to point out the differences between SA and NO..ignorant of the fact that they are obvious..while at the same time running off a list of superifically(ethnically more than anything else) similar cities as their twins...without realizing that there is no close ethnic match. You're a fucking idiot if you think that knowledge makes you special.

The purpose of bringing up the Canary Islanders is not to show that San Antonio and New Orleans have actual ethnic ties. That is what you assummed to be the point I was making...an assumption rooted in your own ignorance, not mine. I threw the link out there simply because you were talking shit about it and asking for similiarities and I knew there was a unique one that existed.......I can throw more out there for you if you like...Not that that is the point I was making...

And no...I don' think the refugees will feel at home in SA because it's exactly like New Orleans...I think they'll feel at home being in a unique city and due to San Antonio's historic habit of embracing, remembering, and celebrating it's cultural influences and past...


What the hell do you define as "culture?" Tourist traps? Dams and levees? Bodies of water?


Go Googling....You'll be less stupid for doing it.

[TheWriter]

Interestling read on New Orleans future population loss.

--------------------------------

Evacuees vow not to return to broken city

Tim Reid and Jacqui Goddard

September 09, 2005

TENS of thousands of people may never return to New Orleans, threatening a population crash as devastating to the city as Hurricane Katrina's floodwaters.

In addition to the 350,000 people who fled the city before the storm, more than 100,000 have been evacuated since and sent as far afield as Michigan and Utah, many vowing never to return.

With parts of New Orleans unlikely to be habitable again for at least a year, and about 150,000 homes destroyed, thousands of the evacuees are enrolling their children in new schools, seeking work and taking long leases on homes elsewhere.

Many say there is nothing in New Orleans to return to and they are weary of spending each hurricane season living in fear below sea level.

"My wife and I have no intention of going back. This is our home now," said evacuee Lionel Daggs after arriving in Denver, Colorado.






Donald Henry, a construction worker who moved to Detroit, said: "I'm going to make Michigan my home. There ain't nothing for me in New Orleans any more."

Touring the Houston Astrodome, where thousands of evacuees are being sheltered, former first lady Barbara Bush raised eyebrows by declaring: "What I'm hearing, which is sort of scary, is they all want to stay in Texas."

A Gallup poll yesterday indicated that 63 per cent of Americans thought New Orleans was devastated beyond repair.

New Orleans's population peaked at 630,000 in 1960 but had slumped to 445,000 by this year. Demographers say that if even 5 to 10 per cent of the evacuees do not return it could have a catastrophic social and economic effect.

Alan Berube, a demographer at the Brookings Institution in Washington, said yesterday many American cities, including New Orleans, had coped with incremental population declines since the 1960s.

"But it's a different thing to experience a 10, 20 or even 30 per cent drop in the space of five to 10 years, which is the time span we're looking at in New Orleans. It could be horrific for the city. Such a rapid population decline is unprecedented in America."

Mr Berube said that unless the planners rebuilding New Orleans admitted there would be a far smaller population -- "a tough admission for a city to make" -- the social and economic effect would be severe.

"There will be obsolete schools, government buildings and housing," he said. "There is plenty of research to suggest that vacant buildings undermine stability, initiate crime and promote a cycle of decline. Much depends on how it is rebuilt."

The diaspora has scattered tens of thousands far and wide across the US. More than 220,000 have arrived in Texas, 100,000 in Arkansas and even 1000 in Arizona, two time zones away.

Regional newspapers are filled with stories of people vowing never to return to a city where thousands of dwellings have been destroyed.

The Times

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,16541660%255E2703,00.html

[TheWriter]

I'd really love to have Extra Stout's definition of culture.

Lay it down big boy.

[ChumpDumper]

What I'm hearing, which is sort of scary, is they all want to stay in Texas.Please tell me she qualified that statement in the next sentence.

[CharlieMac]

Extra Light...

When it comes to culture? Seeing as how I have degree in anthopology, specializing in the subfield of cultural anthropology, and have also spent a fair amount of time studying the various archaelogical and historical sites in Texas, including the big one in San Antonio, when I lived there when I was going to school...a hell of a lot more than you do, Google boy.

Now while that degree may be worth exactly shit as a viable career...I'll be damned if I am going to let some idiot get over on me on a fucking message board forum. Eat shit...perferably your own...you could use the brain power.


Look...the magnitude of what you don't know...is fucking mindnumbing. I don't even know where to begin. It's like trying to argue with someone but first having to teach them English. Fuck that. I'd rather Google do it for me.

You have alread admitted that you don't know shit other than what you have googled...so really there is no point in arguing with a moron who both alternately admits he doesn't know shit and then tries to google his way into the illusion that he does.


But since I can't stand to see a dumb animal suffering...




Idiot...that's a vary narrow definition....and the cities you named are hardly unique or diverse compared to major American cities...much less each other.

San Antonio and New Orleans OTOH...are very unique...and the question you must ask yourself is why...

Your superficial explanation that you came up with...after googling in an attempt to cover for a previously stupid comment, isn't accurate.



IOW douche...basketball, apple pie and a museum with a couple of chinese food restaurants thrown in for good measure is hardly diversity in America, not that SA and NO lack those things....


Now you also have a very narrow view of the Mexican culture..and I don't really think I can fix that...In fact I won't even try. But just realize those Mexicans you generalized are themselves a product of a mass, complex and electic cultural brew...


In regards to San Antonio, in your terms...there are alot of fucking cities that have a lot of Mexican and little bit of German, in Texas...and they aren't like fucking San Antonio. Do you get it now?







Austin is kind of unique in that it's the most liberal city in a conservative state...but by and large Austin is a typical American city culturally. Nothing extraordinarly unique or diverse about it comparitively. It's homogenous America.




Never said it..I said they are twins, in part because of their uniqueness and cultural evolution...I clearly said they were not indentical twins...

You then thought you were something special because you fucking knew that the Mississippi was a big ass river and that New Orleans was a port down...I honestly think you felt you knew something because you realized that New Orleans has a lot of black folk, while San Antonio has a lot of brown. Since then you've basically been looking at superficial factors in an attempt to point out the differences between SA and NO..ignorant of the fact that they are obvious..while at the same time running off a list of superifically(ethnically more than anything else) similar cities as their twins...without realizing that there is no close ethnic match. You're a fucking idiot if you think that knowledge makes you special.

The purpose of bringing up the Canary Islanders is not to show that San Antonio and New Orleans have actual ethnic ties. That is what you assummed to be the point I was making...an assumption rooted in your own ignorance, not mine. I threw the link out there simply because you were talking shit about it and asking for similiarities and I knew there was a unique one that existed.......I can throw more out there for you if you like...Not that that is the point I was making...

And no...I don' think the refugees will feel at home in SA because it's exactly like New Orleans...I think they'll feel at home being in a unique city and due to San Antonio's historic habit of embracing, remembering, and celebrating it's cultural influences and past...




Go Googling....You'll be less stupid for doing it.

Ouch. McOwned.

[CalsonicKansei]

No really, I don't think a permanent move to SA is a smart move on his part, once New Orleans is rebuilt, there is just gonna be too much market over there to pass up.

[TheWriter]

The newspaper said likely games to be moved to San Antonio are Oct. 2 against Buffalo, Oct. 16 against Atlanta; Dec. 4 against Tampa Bay and Dec. 24 against Detroit. The Oct. 2 date opened after the Builder's Showcase Expo at the Alamodome agreed to reschedule, dome director Mike Abington said.

Christmas Eve game followed by the Spurs christmas game! Sucks the Spurs have to play the christmas game on the road.

[TheWriter]

No really, I don't think a permanent move to SA is a smart move on his part, once New Orleans is rebuilt, there is just gonna be too much market over there to pass up.

Too much market? Mind explaining that?

[SequSpur]

Shit, there are 4 200K-300K neighborhoods going up around me and probably 20 of them off of North 281.

The economic bullshit carries no value, somebody in this city has money to fill that mofo up.

What is the latest census for San Antonio and surrounding areas, let's say 80 miles...

About 4 million?

WTF. Get R Done!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!

[TheWriter]

hey and if they sell out the first 4 games fast....we probably will get the remaining 3.

Not likely. The scheduled Builders Showcase Expo was changed from Oct. 2nd to Oct. 30th.

The Saints play on the 30th.

I think if SA has a really good showing in attendance and support, it could just really cement Benson keeping them here.

[TheWriter]

Shit, there are 4 200K-300K neighborhoods going up around me and probably 20 of them off of North 281.

The economic bullshit carries no value, somebody in this city has money to fill that mofo up.

What is the latest census for San Antonio and surrounding areas, let's say 80 miles...

About 4 million?

WTF. Get R Done!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!

The San Antonio MSA population is just under 2 million. 2 million should be surpassed by 2008.

[SequSpur]

San Antonio, New Braunfels, San Marcos, Castroville, Sequin, Schertz, Austin, Kerrville have 4 million.

If Dallas can lump all the cities in their area to make a pitch, so can we.

[TheWriter]

San Antonio, New Braunfels, San Marcos, Castroville, Sequin, Schertz, Austin, Kerrville have 4 million.

If Dallas can lump all the cities in their area to make a pitch, so can we.

The census does that.

By 2010 (the next census) San Antonio will probably have a CMSA population of over 4 million.

[SequSpur]

Exactly.

With companies like Washington Mutual, Toyota, Toyotas buddies, NSA and First Health and many other companies that are coming here, there is tons of corporate support for a football team.

Some of the old fuckers need to wake up and look around, San Antonio just ain't Taco Cabanas, the Alamo and the Missions anymore.

[TheWriter]

I believe the NFL is using their 1999 study of San Antonio as how they see it in 2005, which is certainly not the case in the least.

[SequSpur]

San Antonio Leaders from the past are the ones to blame. The foundation was set by McCombs and Cisneros and then fucking died.

An NFL team would've paid for itself long ago.

[TheWriter]

I'm talking about now.

Reason why the NFL is so touch and go with SA hosting the games is because they're using their study from 1999 to judge the city now. Since 1999, we've added almost half a million people.

[SequSpur]

It seems that most citizens of SA are getting on the same sheet of music.

San Antonio has plenty of support for a football team.

Bud, Toyota, SBC, Valero, Washington Mut, SSFCU..........................

To easy.

[MannyIsGod]

Well, many places do not get this kind of an audtition. If this works out, then it could prove the NFL viable in San Antonio. I sitll doubt it, but we'll see what happens.

[Kori Ellis]

Well I think they are getting at least four games.

It will be fun to watch in person, even if it's just temporary.

[Kori Ellis]

NEW: Saints tickets go on sale Wednesday morning
Web Posted: 09/13/2005 03:28 PM CDT

Tom Orsborn
Express-News Staff Writer

The New Orleans Saints announced today that tickets for their three games at the Alamodome this season will go on sale at 10 a.m. Wednesday.

Those interested in buying tickets should call the Saints at (210) 208-9520 or TicketMaster at (800) 877-0898.

Tickets are also available at the Alamodome box office and online at neworleanssaints.com and ticketmaster.com.

Prices for individual game tickets range from $30 to $125. Group packages range from $28 to $123. Tickets can also be bought in three-game packs ranging from $75 to $360.

The three games in San Antonio are Oct. 2 against Buffalo, Oct. 16 against Atlanta and Dec. 24 against Detroit. The Saints also will play four home games in Baton Rouge, La.

A portion of the revenue from ticket sales will go to the New Orleans Saints Hurricane Katrina Relief Fund.

[Kori Ellis]

Saints a feel-good story for now, but future not bright for their fans

By TIM DAHLBERG, AP Sports Columnist
September 13, 2005
The New Orleans Saints gave the NFL just what it wanted Sunday -- a feel-good story to warm the hearts and wrap the flag around. The team with no home won one for people with no homes.

Saints fans cheered as they watched on big screens in shelters across the country, and for a few hours, at least, everyone had something to smile about.

If this were a Hollywood movie, the Saints would go on to win the Super Bowl, the parade down Bourbon Street would spark the city's rebuilding effort, and the team that saved New Orleans would become as much of an institution as Mardi Gras.

Unfortunately, this is real life. And that leaves the future of the Saints almost as murky as the water that still covers much of the city.

The most immediate part of that future begins Monday night when the Saints travel to New York to play the Giants for a ``home'' game in front of some 78,000 fans who won't be cheering for running back Deuce McAllister and don't have a clue who Wayne Gandy is (for the record, he's an offensive lineman).

The only home field advantage in the Meadowlands belongs to Saints owner Tom Benson. He's the guy who, thanks to the NFL, will pocket the receipts from a large paying crowd made up almost entirely of Giants' season ticket holders.

The Giants can probably use an extra home game to help calm Eli Manning down, but there was really no logistical reason why the Saints couldn't have hosted the game in San Antonio. Because oddsmakers usually figure the home team advantage is worth three points, the Saints went from possible 3-point favorites to 3-point underdogs by having to travel to New York.

``As a football coach that is not the best thing for this team,'' Saints coach Jim Haslett said of the move to New York.

In reality, the Saints will have only three games they can legitimately consider home games all season. The team is based now in San Antonio and, other than the three games now scheduled for the Alamodome, New Orleans will travel to every game.

(True, four of those games will be in Baton Rouge, La., where the crowd will be cheering for the Saints. But the team will have to travel there to play, and it will be an unfamiliar atmosphere for both teams.)

For a team that had trouble winning even in normal circumstances, giving away points almost every week isn't exactly a recipe for playoff contention. But what Saints fans should fear most is what comes after this year.

The Superdome is likely history, no matter how cosmetic the damage is to the team's former home. Benson wanted a new stadium long before Katrina hit, and there's no way he's going to willingly go back to a building that is now symbolic of so much human misery.

A new stadium is also out of the question. Imagine, when much of the city needs rebuilding, the outcry if someone suggests spending hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer money to build a football stadium for an owner that really doesn't want to be there anyway?

It was just four years ago that Louisiana agreed to pay the Saints some $2 million a home game just to keep them in New Orleans. But even that deal was in trouble before the hurricane because, with tourism lagging, the state couldn't find enough money to put in Benson's pockets.

Under the deal, Benson would have to repay the $81 million he's already gotten if he took the team elsewhere. But all bets are off now because Benson could claim that he isn't obligated to stay in New Orleans when there no longer is a proper place to play.

Benson has given New Orleans every reason to be nervous about the future of the team. He kept silent for two weeks, then said little when questioned Monday.

``We're not going to worry about that today,'' he said.

Contrast that with New Orleans Hornets owner George Shinn, who was basically run out of Charlotte by angry fans but now seems to have found things to his liking in the Big Easy. Shinn needs a new temporary home for his NBA team, too, but says he plans to be back.

``Our objective is not to abandon ship here or to get out of dodge,'' Shinn told The Times-Picayune the other day. ``Our plan is to hope and pray New Orleans rebuilds.''

Benson's immediate plan, meanwhile, seems to be gauging the ability of San Antonio, where he has a home and business interests, to support a team.

If not, there's always Los Angeles, though that might mean he has to sell the Saints because the NFL would prefer local ownership. That shouldn't be a major hardship since Benson said earlier this year he had been offered $1 billion for the team.

On Sunday, the Saints gave the displaced residents of New Orleans some relief from the despair invading their lives. Sports may not help them find a new home or job, but if ever a city needed a team to do well, this was the time.

Unfortunately, they may not have long to enjoy it.

Because the next sound you hear will be these Saints marching out.

Tim Dahlberg is a national sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at [email protected]

[batman2883]

They really should have let them play here against the giants...im a huge cowboys fan but i wouldnt mind if the Saints won the superbowl

[Marcus Bryant]

I'm talking about now.

Reason why the NFL is so touch and go with SA hosting the games is because they're using their study from 1999 to judge the city now. Since 1999, we've added almost half a million people.

Is basing a NFL franchise in San Antonio going to lead to a large increase in the TV ratings for the NFL? No. You don't need to put a 3rd team in Texas to convince Texans to watch more football or more Texans to watch NFL football, as it were.

Again, the 2nd (or 1st, hell I forget) largest media market in the US does not have a NFL franchise. The valuation of a team in LA is going to be significantly more than for a team in SA. Perhaps a guy like Benson or McCombs is civic minded enough to leave hundreds of million$ on the table in order to bring a 2nd major pro sports franchise to South Texas, but I am somewhat skeptical of that.

[TheWriter]

What satdium is a team in LA going to play in?

Exactly. Which is a major reason why they don't have an NFL team anymore nor have had one since and the future isn't as certain for a LA team in the short term.

[ChumpDumper]

What satdium is a team in LA going to play in?They could just play in the Colosseum until they get a new place built. Of course plans for a new one would have to be in place before a team moved in, but an interim venue is not a huge deal. The new stadium would depend on which government was willing to play ball with the NFL. Carson seemed to be the closest last time around; who knows who could be next?

[FuzzyLumpkins]

Is basing a NFL franchise in San Antonio going to lead to a large increase in the TV ratings for the NFL? No. You don't need to put a 3rd team in Texas to convince Texans to watch more football or more Texans to watch NFL football, as it were.

Again, the 2nd (or 1st, hell I forget) largest media market in the US does not have a NFL franchise. The valuation of a team in LA is going to be significantly more than for a team in SA. Perhaps a guy like Benson or McCombs is civic minded enough to leave hundreds of million$ on the table in order to bring a 2nd major pro sports franchise to South Texas, but I am somewhat skeptical of that.

Youre completely looking at this from the wrong direction.

The NFL certainly wants a franchise in LA in the worst way, but they want the startup franchise fee to come out of LA. Benson will not be allowed to move the Saints to LA because the NFL wants to make 500+ mill off franchise fees.

Otherwise they are going to get lesser dollars from a lesser market.