re: Are you happy your tax dollar subsidize the Saints and the NFL??

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I think New Orleans folks would sell their very soul to the devil to keep the Saints.

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For 2009-2012, the final three years of the Saints' previous contract, the inducement payment was set at $23.5 million. Meaning not only did Benson get to keep virtually all the revenue generated by his team's home games, the state had to cut a fat check for the privilege of hosting him.

The arrangement had become an embarrassment to both sides.

Thornton, serving as the agent of the Louisiana Stadium and Exposition District (LSED), which owns the stadium and the arena on behalf of the public, was at the center of the negotiations on a new deal. Everyone had an incentive to deal, he said.


"The Saints didn't want the inducements," he said. "It was bad for them. It was bad for us. They didn't like taking it, and we didn't like giving it to them."

The new deal, good for 15 years, did away with the inducement payments. That saved the state millions in annual out-of-pocket expenses.


But that's not to say that Benson took a loss. On the contrary, it's likely he will end up making even more money than he did before.

Rather than hand Benson $23.5 million every year, the state agreed to make a one-time $85 million investment in Superdome upgrades. The overhaul added 3,200 new seats, club lounges, 16 new box suites, a new team store and more concessions options. Whatever extra money Benson could squeeze out of the new amenities was his to keep.

The LSED estimated he would clear at $12 million or more each year. If the Saints didn't make at least that much, the state agreed to pay the team cash to make up the difference.

From Benson's standpoint, though, he was still going to get shorted $11.5 million, compared with his old deal.

Enter the real estate exchange.

Dominion Tower and the New Orleans Centre, a vacant office building and a defunct shopping mall, sat directly across the street from the Superdome.

With no private buyers willing to take the risk, the LSED had been considering buying the properties. The idea was to have the state move its local offices into Dominion Tower, and rent from the state agencies would provide cash flow that could be used to subsidize Benson's operations.

Then-Gov. Bobby Jindal was against the plan, Thornton said. Ever the conservative, Jindal thought private business would do better on the real estate management than the state.

Benson agreed to step in. Aided by a slew of tax breaks, his real estate company, Zelia LLC, paid $42.1 million to acquire the office tower and mall and agreed to absorb another $40 million in renovation costs.

In exchange, the state agreed to move government agencies into two-thirds of the 488,000-square-foot office building, renamed Benson Tower. The lease was good for the duration of the Saints' 15-year agreement to remain in New Orleans.

The LSED also agreed to transform Benson's newly acquired mall area into what is now Champions Square, an outdoor concert venue and fan zone. The district agreed to lease and operate the new attraction for the remainder of the Saints contract.

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See the previous link about the new Benson deal. It is around $28 million annually

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See the previous link about the new Benson deal. It is around $23.5 million annually.

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