re: If Benson would have moved the Saints to San Antonio permanently...

quote:

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Games weren't regularly selling out until the Saints drafted Reggie


Reggie was not the reason. State-pride post-Katrina plus Brees' arrival had more to do with that.

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late post, just back from the beach; but nope. That's hindsight speaking.

Reggie Bush was the imminent savior of the Saints, the next Barry Sanders, only better. People saw the fact that he wasn't picked #1 overall as a sign of NFL conspiracy to help New Orleans. Hell, I had a subscription to The Sporting News then, and they had an official 2 page section devoted to Reggie for each game of his rookie season, regardless of any other NFL feature they might publish.
Brees was seen as a serviceable QB, but a lot of people wanted Culpepper or a rookie.

Needless to say, public perception was wrong on both counts.