re: I think we need to have a discussion about Gayle Benson’s future as owner

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Sam Diego doesn’t have a stadium So add another billion dollars to the prospective owners bill.

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A billion??? Lol

A new stadium in San Diego would cost a minimum $2b these days

She won't. She's collecting huge checks for being mediocre. No reason to put out any real effort. Money has ruined sports.

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Money is the only reason professional sports EXISTS

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How old are you? You sound like you just crawled out from under a rock

She is not up for discussion as owner until she dies. I believe upon her death it goes into a manageable trust that will find another local owner to take over the team, but I stand to be corrected if I’m wrong.

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Nobody is going to spend money on a team based in a city as deplorable as New Orleans.

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Have you seen Atlanta lately? That city is more of a shithole than New Orleans.

Old Roger G. would love a sale and move.

Two things are true here:

1. Gayle Benson has no business running a lemonade stand much less two Professional Sports Organizations worth Billions of Dollars. At no point in her entire life has she ever done anything to remotely earn this position or prepare for this position. She was obviously used by the Archdiocese who introduced her to Tom as a plant to make sure the financial spigot of the Benson Fortune was kept on towards Catholic Schools, Organizations, and Projects in the Metro Area.

2. If she were to sell to someone else due to the complete lack of elgible buyers in the area both organizations would be gone at some point in the future to greener pastures.

Pick Your Poison. There is no accountability in either organization because those who need to be held accountable are the ones in charge. She is a puppet. The local media gives her a pass on her complete incompetence as an owner because they want to keep their access to both organizations and because they know if it weren't for her there probably wouldn't be any or at least one less organization to cover.

She will be the owner until her death.

When she goes, she will sell it to a large investment group with a tech or hedge fund billionaire at the front of it, and maybe things will change.

But they will not change until then. She isn't a football person and she relies on people like Lauscha and Loomis, and they aren't going to fire themselves.

The Pelicans will be in grave danger of being in Vegas or St Louis (assuming no expansion) or something upon her death.

As with most threads here there is some good and some ridiculous takes in this thread:

1A) the Saints are not going to relocate anytime soon. Although in the bottom quadrant, they are far from the lowest revenue team in the NFL. Their deal with the State is the envy of many franchises and more than makes up for less potential revenue from the New Orleans community (corporate suite sales ect). It is inarguable that season ticket sales are trending downward, but they have been exceptional for over 15 years and the optics of pulling a franchise from a community that has supported the team would be horrible. Jacksonville is much weaker in this regard.

1B) I lived through all of the relocation threats prior to and in the immediate aftermath of Katrina. Situation is complexly different now. They have a much better stadium situation (renovation, control of property around the Dome, respect of the business community ect)

2) Even if they wanted to, there is no viable US relocation market. St Louis would essentially be a lateral move, San Diego had every opportunity to keep the Chargers (CA fans just don't care that much) and San Antonio and Austin with never happen with Jerry Jones as the most powerful NFL owner. The eventual threat is expansion into Europe or even Mexico City eventually but most owner's are cool to this idea for now. The NFL would need to create a division in Europe by moving two teams and expanding by 2 franchises. I could see this happening 20 yrs.

2) Gayle is a caretaker owner, with extreme loyalty to the front office that backed her in the fight with Rita. Gayle will not rock the boat with significant changes, so we are stuck with what we've got. This is a huge threat because these same people will be in charge when she is gone, with even more power. This is the existential although not immediate threat to the future of the saints in New Orleans. Fans will scrimp and save to support a winner, but with consistent mediocrity things could wither quickly.