To some it’s just a football team, but to many others the New Orleans Saints are an important part of their cultural identity.
This gives Saints’ owner Tom Benson significant bargaining power in his negotiations with the State of Louisiana.
Benson bemoans the fact that New Orleans is the second smallest market in the NFL. The population base also is poorer than most big cities. These demographic hindrances limit Benson’s possible revenue.
His solution from day one has been to turn to the government’s coffers.
Upon purchasing the team, he received $20 million more than he paid for the team in tax concessions.
His team is also one of eight NFL teams that play in a stadium exclusively built with public money.
Benson’s biggest boondoggle came in convincing former Gov. Foster to ink a deal guaranteeing him a total of $186.5 million in a 10-year annual subsidy.
Gov. Blanco is stuck with the repercussions of Foster’s deal that the state can’t afford. The state already had to borrow $7 million to pay last year’s $15 million installment. This year the projected shortfall is even greater.
While we still don’t know how to pay back last year’s loan, the state is going to have to produce $9.3 million it doesn’t have. This trend will continue and the problem only grows as his guaranteed payments escalate until the contract expires in 2010.
Unsatisfied, Benson continues to make demands on the state. Backing down from his original demand for a new stadium, he wants taxpayers to pay for a $168 million renovation of the Superdome.
In exchange for increased subsidies and a renovated dome that would generate more money for Benson, he will agree to keep the team in New Orleans until 2020.
But Gov. Blanco isn’t as loose with the state’s money as her predecessor.
She believes the Saints should pay for part of the renovation cost and would like to redirect the annual state subsidies to pay for the state’s share of the renovation cost.
However, there is a condition: Benson must open up the Saint’s books for public examination.
Sounds sensible. If you’re going to receive millions of dollars in taxpayer money, shouldn’t we at least be able to verify what it is being spent on?
Thus far, Benson hasn’t agreed.
Then we learn of the newest edition to Benson’s toy collection, a $20 million yacht. We know at least some of the expenses were paid by the Saints, but it remains unclear how much.
We will never know if state money was used to buy the yacht unless he opens the books.
If the state is going to help “struggling” businesses, they should have to prove the aid is warranted, just as the regular citizen has to prove his financial circumstances when seeking government aid.
Unfortunately, Benson may be able to find other governments who are willing to freely give away taxpayer funds, but we simply can’t afford it.
It is time for all governments to reject the tyranny of professional sports owners. Since they can always threaten to move elsewhere, these corporate welfare queens can continue to successfully make unreasonable demands from the government.
The Louisiana citizenry should applaud Gov. Blanco’s efforts to keep the Saints in New Orleans without giving the biggest welfare queen in the state a blank check.
It’s only fair.