Saints aren't marching anywhere

The NFL announced that it probably would not punish Saints owner Tom Benson for swatting at a camera and yelling angrily at a confrontational fan.

His town, however, wants to get medieval on him in fear that he might go Art Modell on the ravaged city. Some have also pointed out that there was talk that the Saints could go marching out of the Bayou even before Katrina decimated the Gulf Coast.

But as they say, talk is cheap. Rich men like Benson got that way by making decisions based on the most economically viable choice. And assuming the city returns to any state of normalcy, the Saints should, and will remain in New Orleans.

The Saints do have one foot out the door, but it didn’t have one out the door before the storm; it was forced out by the storm. The Cardinals, Colts, and Seahawks all hinted at bolting for greener passages, with the added leverage of a notable vacancy in the country’s second largest market.

Guess what: Seattle has its stadium, and Indianapolis and Arizona have begun construction on theirs. They didn’t skip town; they never truly wanted to, never had true incentive to. If the Cardinals really wanted out, you think the NFL would have stopped them from heading to Los Angeles? As if anyone in Phoenix would have noticed.

Again, talk is cheap. And that foot should be yanked back inside the door the moment New Orleans is ready to accommodate it.

Any argument that the situation in New Orleans before Katrina was any more dire than in those other cities is completely baseless. As recently as 2001 the Saints were in the top 10 in NFL attendance, in the top 15 as recently as 2003. If the team hadn’t been a 32-32 club from 2001-2004 they could have maintained such numbers, but the drop hasn’t exactly been cataclysmic, as they still drew 64,147 per game in 2004.
So let’s face it, while there was talk, the residents of New Orleans were nowhere near the panic button before disaster struck in late August, and neither was Benson.

And with attendance still economically viable, there should be little doubt that a recovered New Orleans could support an NFL team.

Unfortunately for New Orleans, there is no such comforting precedent for an unprecedented natural disaster. No team has faced the precarious situation Tom Benson faces. He doesn’t know how long it will be before New Orleans becomes its former self, or even if it will, so his noncommittal stance is not completely unjustified.

But with the Superdome now severely damaged, the argument that the team needs a new stadium is strengthened. And at last glance, Los Angeles is still fishing for a team, so that leverage remains.

Benson messed up. But he can still come out on top, although his thought process must change. He has a right to be frustrated with elements of the media that have forecasted the Saints’ departure and all but drawn up the plans to install luxury boxes in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. The cameraman and fan incident, however, suggests he may need to re-consult with his publicist/therapist on how to deal with such feelings.

The Saints owner just seems like a man who doesn’t know what to do. But the answer is pretty simple.
Benson should make it clear; if at that point there is any possibility that the team could function there, the Saints would stay/return. He has no choice but to hold off at least through the 2006 season, finding temporary homes where he can. At t-plus two years, the future of New Orleans shouldn’t be as murky.

This way he leaves himself an out. If New Orleans becomes a viable option, he remains loyal to the city and cuts his PR losses from swings by columnists and the mayor of New Orleans (who you would think would have his own PR battles to fight.) If it is not ready, it will probably be apparent to most people, and the move would not devastate a community still reeling from such a recent tragedy.

It’s not as if Los Angeles in and of itself is really that attractive an option for an NFL team. If it was, two teams wouldn’t have simultaneously loaded the UHaul vans in 1995. And that was before USC became the 90,000 per game powerhouse it has. You think a mediocre NFL team will do well against that? It is more in the NFL’s interest than any prospective team’s, considering TV money, the biggest benefit in Los Angeles, falls under the NFL’s revenue sharing plan.

No, if it is possible, the Saints will be entrenched in New Orleans by the beginning of the 2007 season. And Benson should make that known, for his own good. But even if he continues to say and do wrong things, Saints fans should make sure to support the team if and when it returns, regardless of what is said between now and then.

After all, talk is cheap.