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

quote:

---

If you're so well read, then you should probably have found it easy to answer the numbers questions.

---

A quick check this morning:

From Forbes

Here's what Benson gets from the latest deal Jindal cut:

Over the course of the 15 year lease the state and Benson agreed on the state will pay Benson at least 198 million dollars in increased revenues from the Dome.

142 million dollars in rental payments on property Benson owns, 10 million dollars for bringing the Super Bowl to NO, and 2.6 million in tax breaks.

Also at the time the State also agreed to pay 85 million for stadium improvements. Furthermore, the State also gave Benson the revenue for the naming rights to the Dome at a tune of 10 million dollars per year.

Oh and the state just hired an architect to plan another renovation estimated at 150-500 million dollars so the Dome can attract another Super Bowl.

Future plans

Current salary cap on players is roughly 160 million and there are 8 games a year in the Dome. State income taxes are levied on the players of both teams and the La. rate is 6%; however, that's not based on the total income. It's based on income after deductions and deductions include federal income taxes so at best I'd estimate the state collects 160 million less 30 per cent for federal taxes times 6% or about 6.72 million dollars a year in income tax revenues from the players. They probably net more from coaches, staff, etc. so I'm estimating that the state collected around 8 million a year on income taxes from the Saints' employees and their opponents.

The current lease is for 15 years and it expires in 2025. Incomes for the players will rise some, but so will the state's expenses (they are planning on spending 150-500 just on the stadium). If taxes rise to 10 million per year on average, then the state will net 150 million over the 15 years.

Subsidies, stadium costs, etc. are way more than that.

But then you have to consider the impact that the Saints employees have on NO, and that is something too. So is economic activity resulting from a Saints game. Is it enough to offset the millions of dollars in subsidies and the renovations to the stadium? It is not.

Considering how the State has built Benson facilities for the Saints to train, for his Pelicans, and it even gets worse.

New Orleans and Louisiana pay a lot to say New Orleans a major league city. Football fans and tax payers pay a lot to say we have a team in the NFL. It's not going to change here in La. or anywhere else. The NFL will leverage fan's emotions into lucrative deals and even then as we saw in Oakland, Arizona and in St. Louis, they will leave for greener pastures the first chance they get.

No La. Governor is ever going to let the Saints leave on their watch. Benson and his heirs are banking on that.