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Take your own in advice about reading. Not your own. Read others.
i don't believe that Benson would be as positive as he is and be dropping hints to city officials if his intention was solely to 'play' San Antonio.
i'm not sure what he has to gain at this point from lying.
you may be right, but i hope not.
Also, there are some things that have to be remembered about Los Angeles.
Sure every owner without a solid fan base is drooling,
but there are reasons that the Rams and Raiders are no longer there.
I know Al Davis wanted a new stadium and had his loyal fan base in Oakland
to go back to anyway, but Cali is Raider and Niner territory.
And when people aren't going to those games?
They are at the UCLA and USC games.
With so much to do?
it will be hard for a new team to build a dedicated fan base in LA.
sure, the money will be there with a new stadium,
and from what i'm sure will be lucrative TV deals.
but those that do not learn from History are doomed to repeat it.
Maybe Benson is wising up to that fact and learning just how hungry
San Antonio is for an NFL team.
seeing the dome sellout yesterday was surely a positive sign for him.
put a good product on the field and they will come.
Last edited by bigsac; 10-17-2005 at 11:12 AM.
Take your own in advice about reading. Not your own. Read others.
I think it already unlikely that the Texans and Cowboys owners will agree, but moreover, I think it highly likely that Dallas and Houston representatives will allow a measure to pass to spend state funds on a stadium which will not provide the regions with any revenue, and will in fact be in compe ion. Further, I don't expect any areas outside the SA groupings would be in favor of that.
And I for one would be really surprised if voters aren't angry about money going to fund an entertainment center for one area when the state can't afford to buy textbooks for the classroom. But then again, we were ok with multiple special sessions in which little more than an approval of a raise in their wages was accomplished and school financing wasn't, so what do I know?
Bottom line for me - I don't particularly care for football, there are already two football teams playing professionally in Texas, and I think it would hurt the Spurs, which is something I care very much about. I think SA is getting played, and that's too bad, since a lot of folks really seem to want this. But I really hope it doesn't happen.
So he gets a sweetheart lease on a new stadium in NO built with public funds and the team is a nomad for a couple more years. That should be enough time for NO to get back to some kind of normalcy.
Maybe the Saints are here for most of the next couple of seasons before heading back to NO.
Benson gets the stadium he wants and SA gets the chance to prove itself as a viable NFL city over 2 to 3 years.
i don't believe that Benson would be as positive as he is and be dropping hints to city officials if his intention was solely to 'play' San Antonio.
i'm not sure what he has to gain at this point from lying.
you may be right, but i hope not.
Also, there are some things that have to be remembered about Los Angeles.
Sure every owner without a solid fan base is drooling,
but there are reasons that the Rams and Raiders are no longer there.
I know Al Davis wanted a new stadium and had his loyal fan base in Oakland
to go back to anyway, but Cali is Raider and Niner territory.
And when people aren't going to those games?
They are at the UCLA and USC games.
With so much to do?
it will be hard for a new team to build a dedicated fan base in LA.
sure, the money will be there with a new stadium,
and from what i'm sure will be lucrative TV deals.
but those that do not learn from History are doomed to repeat it.
Maybe Benson is wising up to that fact and learning just how hungry
San Antonio is for an NFL team.
seeing the dome sellout yesterday was surely a positive sign for him.
put a good product on the field and they will come.
Benson seems to be an owner who will not sell. So he's in it for the long haul and he's looking for a deal that makes sense on a year-in, year-out operating basis.
The one thing that would be needed from the state of Texas would be the creation of some kind of regional taxing authority that would levy taxes to fund the creation of a stadium.
People need to realize that it isn't a case of the Alamodome versus a decrepit and potentially condemned Superdome, but rather between whatever new stadium deal that the Louisiana state government will offer the Saints versus what new stadium deal the Saints can get in Texas.
screw the cowboys and texans.
nothing against the teams, but if their owners are so insecure that they can't allow another team in the HUGE state of Texas, then that's THEIR PROBLEM!
i agree that state dollars should not go to getting the saints here.
maybe some state dollars to improve the infrastructure and roads around the facility if needed....but that's it.
otherwise? it's all on the NFL, Tom Benson, and the City of San Antonio (including the people, the businesses, and anyone else that wants to chip in)
if you don't care about football?
why are you here.
and if you think an NFL team in San Antonio will hurt the Spurs?
you are wrong.
The Spurs are an Ins ution here now.
They paved the way, with DRob and TD leading the charge.
imagine the Good Holtcat and Co. with Tom Benson could do for our city!
the spurs already give so much back to the community, what do you think 53 more
millionaires in town could do? United we STAND people. Faith. BELIEVE.
Jacksonville makes more financial sense to the league for relocation to SA. It would prevent a Cowboys/Saints head-to-head tv situation and increase overall viewership in the area.
After some cursory research, I found that Gilette Stadium -- which would likely most resemble a regional stadium in Hays or Comal County -- was financed in roughly this fashion:
$70 million from the state of Massachusetts for infrastructure surounding the stadium.
$285 million for stadium construction to be raised by the owner himself. However a chunk of that was provided as a loan by the NFL. I don't have the exact number. An article says it could have been a maximum of $150 million, but the same article says the Broncos got $44 million and the Eagles $55 million to aid in construction of their new venues.
All this in response to a competing offer from Hartford, Conn.
In the end, San Antonians probably feel too burned by the dome and too afraid of big numbers to do this themselves. Hays County is all about building out their I-35 corridor, so if anything happens, look for it to happen there.
...and SA doesn't have to deal with any backlash because it 'stole' the Saints from a 'wounded' New Orleans.
Clearly, because I like basketball. And more specifically, I am obsessively devoted to Spurs basketball.
You'll note this is not the NFL board.
I doubt Comal Co will go for it, but I think Hays might be a more legitimate possibility.
Or Benson plays in South Central for a couple of years and moves into whatever new stadium out there for more money than he would ever get in either NOLA or SA.
Worst case scenario...you have a team between San Antonio and Austin that neither wants. That's not too far fetched. San Marcos is a significant drive from most parts of SA and from Austin it's 20 miles plus Austin traffic.
Perhaps, if he wants to go to LA. For whatever reason, he seems to prefer either NO or SA.
In the unlikely event the Saints ended up in SA permanently, in all likelihood they would trade places with the Jaguars and end up in the AFC South anyway.
I think the best case for a publicly-financed (at the local level) stadium in SA would be made if the Saints end up in the Alamodome for another (full) season or two. That way, SA has the NFL experience and presumably will have enjoyed it.
A lot would have to happen in that scenario, namely that Lousiana drags its feet on a new stadium deal, the Saints aren't coerced into playing more games at other sites in Louisiana and that Benson is content to wait.
Not out of the realm of possibilities.
The only NFL teams playing outside central cities right now are the Cowboys and the Patriots. Perhaps you could throw the Dolphins in that category, too. In all of those cases, the distances involved are considerably shorter than what it would be with a hypothetical stadium in Hays County.
I don't see how an SA bid could count on the Austin market. Most of the money in Austin is in the north-side tech corridor, and as far north as that is, traveling to see the Cowboys is almost as feasible as traveling to see a relocated SA team -- and that fan base is already established.
Kip, try adding something to the topic.
Swapping out the New Orleans market for the SA market is a marginal improvement, at best, long term. If you can get the Austin market involved then it starts to look a little better. But, again, you wouldn't be bringing in many new NFL viewers. The case would be that you are getting existing fans to watch more football.
I think San Antonio is much better long term than NOLA alone, but I still think LA is better than either in the long term.
If those Austinites and San Antonians can make the trek to San Marcos to for "bargains" at the outlet mall, they can go for a football game. It's not like the games are on Friday afternoons. If they build it, they will come.
But I doubt they build it.
That sounds vaguely familiar, Mr. Cisneros...If they build it, they will come.
Saints or other NFL team move to SA on the merits of the San Antonio/south Texas audience only. Austin will not come; so many people are from Dallas, they live on the yankee side of town, and generally look down upon all things south of town as not worth their time or money.
That's why it won't be built.That sounds vaguely familiar, Mr. Cisneros...It's not being built on Stassney or Montopolis.they live on the yankee side of town, generally look down upon all things south of town
If you can convince me no one from North Austin has ever been to the outlet mall or Cabela's, I'll go along with you.
Perception is everything. If SA got the team while NO was still viable, it could be argued that there was a fair "compe ion". This way, it look like vulturism.
You can get women to drive 60 miles round trip to shop but when you offer a man his couch, TIVO and a fridge full of longnecks versus driving that 60 miles, spending God knows how much time in traffic, beers at 6 bucks a pop and listening to the wife about how she could've spent all that time shopping....well, here's the keys, honey.
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