The immediate future of the New Orleans Saints is secure.
The Saints are staying where they belong — in New Orleans — for at least another decade.
The new lease signed by Gov. Jeff Landry and Saints owner Gayle Benson Thursday will ensure the Saints rep the fleur de lis through 2035 and perhaps longer.
The new accord is one of those rare win-wins. The state reduces costs and secured greater protections for taxpayers, while locking down the city’s prized NFL franchise for another decade and (likely) landing another Super Bowl for the city.
The Saints, meanwhile, maintain one of the most user-friendly leases in professional sports that allows them to remain competitive with their big-market peers for the foreseeable future.
After months of intense and often contentious negotiations, harmony reigns.
For now.
Beyond 2035, all bets are off. Nothing is certain, including who owns and operates the team and where it plays.
The new deal has four five-year options that could extend the lease another two decades. But the Saints own the right to execute the options, so theoretically they — or a new owner — could leave in 2035 or 2040 or 2045, etc.
Nothing the Saints have said or done suggests they’d do so. Owner Gayle Benson and team president Dennis Lauscha are New Orleans natives, as are many of the club’s other top executives. They’ve vowed to keep the team here for as long as she owns the team and have invested hundreds of millions locally as a show of their invested interests.
Nevertheless, the reality of the situation is the 78-year-old Benson will be approaching 90 when the 10-year extension ends, and, according to the terms of her succession plan, the team will eventually have to be sold because she has no heirs.
As the executors of her estate, Lauscha, general manager Mickey Loomis and longtime director of communications Greg Bensel have been charged with overseeing the sale. Benson has stipulated that they pick an owner that agrees to keep the team in New Orleans, but there’s no way to ensure that happens beyond an ironclad legal lease.
“I am never going to leave,” Benson quipped during the ceremony.
Understandably, you might be wondering why the Saints wouldn’t agree to an ironclad long-term lease if they are so committed to keeping the team in New Orleans. Or why state officials didn’t lock in the Saints for 30 years the way Buffalo and Jacksonville did recently with the Bills and Jaguars?
Two complicating factors withered the state’s leverage and prevented officials from securing a longer-term deal, according to sources close to the negotiations.
Because the lease is for a renovated stadium rather than a new one, Saints and NFL officials were hesitant to tie the club down to a 50-year old stadium.
While a $560 million renovation of the Superdome was completed just last year, it still pales in comparison to the $2 billion new stadiums being constructed in Buffalo and Nashville.
When the Bills and Bears move into new stadiums in the next few years, the Superdome will be the second-oldest stadium in the NFL behind only Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
Equally if not more important, the eventual sale of the club looms over all future decisions. Understandably, the NFL wants flexibility for the future owners. Skeptics would say they also want to increase the sale price of the team, and an open-ended lease deal with a small relocation fee would certainly bolster the asking price.
State officials added legal language to the new deal to try to deter the new owners from relocating to another city, but contracts only go so far. History has shown, where there’s a will for an NFL owner to relocate, there is a way. The Chargers and Rams both broke leases to move to Los Angeles. The $378 million relocation fee did not stop the Raiders from moving to Las Vegas from Oakland.
Ultimately, the future of the Saints rests in the hands of Benson’s trustees and their NFL overlords.
The NFL and its owners also have a role in approving any ownership transition, which would require a vote of support by at least three-quarters of the owners.
“The significant investment by the team and Gayle Benson was done so purposely to position the team, city and state so that any future new owner would see and reap the benefits of an updated stadium with surrounding fan facing amenities that make keeping the team in New Orleans attractive,” longtime Saints spokesman Greg Bensel. “…Our goal remains to be here long-term.”
It's not the Benson-led Saints whom fans and New Orleanians should be concerned about, though. As we learned from the Cleveland Browns relocation to Baltimore, any NFL team, even beloved, well-supported ones, can leave.
“I don't think Mrs. Benson wants to leave, the state does not want them to leave and I don't think the NFL does either,” said Rob Vosbein, the chairman of the Louisiana Stadium and Exposition District and lead negotiator for the state on the deal.
As we all know, things can change. Ten years is a lifetime in professional sports. Ten years ago, the Rams were in St. Louis, the Chargers were in San Diego and the Raiders were in Oakland.
Let’s hope the new owner is someone with local ties and/or interests. Someone who understands they are just a steward for the team and are protecting the asset for the city, as Benson said.
The Saints don’t just belong in New Orleans. They belong to New Orleans.