Consultant: New Orleans should aim at keeping Saints

WWL ^ | 10/23/2005 | The Associated Press

[LA Woman3]

New Orleans has only a slim chance of ever seeing another NFL team if the Saints relocate to San Antonio or elsewhere, according to a major sports consultant.

Marc Ganis of SportsCorp Ltd. in Chicago served as a consultant to Cleveland in 1996 when that city's NFL team moved to Baltimore and the NFL guaranteed Cleveland a new team and allowed the city to keep the Browns' logos, colors and nickname.

Earlier this week, when media reports surfaced indicating Saints owner Tom Benson wants to move the team to San Antonio, New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin said he wanted the "Cleveland deal." Gov. Kathleen Blanco said she supported Nagin on such a plan.

But Ganis questioned the strategy.

"If I were advising Mayor Nagin, I would have given him the same advice that someone should have given the mayors of Baltimore and Houston," Ganis said. "Hold on to what you have. Do everything you have to hold on to what you've got, because there's no certainty to what will come next or what will come at all."

Houston lost the Oilers to Tennessee and later got the expansion Texans.

Ganis said New Orleans already is viewed as a small market struggling to remain financially competitive — and most NFL owners oppose expanding beyond the present 32 teams.

[LA Woman3]

"If I were advising Mayor Nagin, I would have given him the same advice that someone should have given the mayors of Baltimore and Houston," Ganis said. "Hold on to what you have. Do everything you have to hold on to what you've got, because there's no certainty to what will come next or what will come at all."

[Doogle]

"If I were advising Mayor Nagin, I would have given him the same advice that someone should have given the mayors of Baltimore and Houston,"

.....move the freakin buses

Doogle

[ncountylee]

"If I were advising Mayor Nagin...

...stay off crack.

[Ellesu]

http://www.panthershuddle.com/newforum/viewtopic.php?p=218009

[LA Woman3]

I like this one.... “Fix The Dome, Bring Them Home!”

[newfrpr04]

If Mayor Nagin keeps putting his foot in his mouth NO will not have any businesses to keep the city open. After all that he has said about the team, why would they want to stay.

They could always move to Southern California and have the Angels owner buy them (Los Angeles city lover who thinks Orange County is part of Los Angeles County)
They will be known as
The Los Angeles New Orlean Saints of Anaheim

[bikepacker67]

New Orleans had a football team?

[Tzimisce]

Wow! No one wants to live in NO, not even the sports teams?

That's bad...

[elmer fudd]

I guess I just don't get it. Why bother supporting a football team at all? They cost the cities that have them a lot of money and bring back little in return. If I were mayor of NO I'd be giving them the boot.

[PAR35]

Wow! No one wants to live in NO, not even the sports teams?

This story may explain why the team won't be back:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1507794/posts

[Newbomb Turk]

The Saints owner can get out of paying 81 million dollors if the Super Dome is deamed uninhabitable. I can tell you first hand it is trashed as is I am sorry to report most of New Orleans

I just spent 30 days working in Nawlins and I would flee to almost anywhere given the chance.

[Newbomb Turk]

The Saints owner can get out of paying 81 million dollors if the Super Dome is deamed uninhabitable. I can tell you first hand it is trashed as is I am sorry to report most of New Orleans

I just spent 30 days working in Nawlins and I would flee to almost anywhere given the chance.

[PhiKapMom]

The New Orleans Hornets are settling in nicely here on OKC and the Saints in San Antonio. Even when they rebuild, NO will be much smaller. They did a louzy job of supporting teams when they were bigger -- they have more important things to concentrate on then pro sports teams.

Cannot believe the idiot mayor is in a fight over the Saints -- seems he has a lot of his hands and getting people back into their homes are a much larger priority and as a US taxpayer, I object to any tax dollars going to rebuild sports arenas before housing.

BTW, Saints should stay in San Antonio and should have been moved there a long time ago. We bought a car from a Benson dealership when we lived outside San Antonio -- salesman then said he Benson wanted to relocate the Saints to San Antonio.

[LA Woman3]

Related story....

NEW ORLEANS -- Gov. Kathleen Blanco will be attending the first "home" game for the New Orleans Saints and promises to help ease the permanent move back to New Orleans.

Blanco said Friday that NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue supports the New Orleans recovery.

On Oct. 30, the Saints are playing the first of four "home" games in Louisiana at LSU's Tiger Stadium. The Saints moved to San Antonio, Texas, after the Superdome was damaged in Hurricane Katrina.

Blanco's comments come after Saints owner Tom Benson Friday sought to quell an uproar in Louisiana about his reported plans to move the NFL team to San Antonio.

In a statement, Benson says no one quoted about a possible franchise move had been authorized to speak on his behalf.

Benson's comments come two days after New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin blasted the idea of the move. He said that talk of moving the team in the wake of an unprecedented natural disaster in southeastern Louisiana was a shameful act of disrespect to fans who have supported the franchise for nearly four decades.

But Benson said he wanted to make it clear that no decisions have been made regarding the team's future plans and none will be made until after the 2005 season is concluded.
http://www.wdsu.com/news/5147862/detail.html

[xJones]

Oh when the Saints
Oh when the Saints
Oh when the Saints go marching out...