Saints Safe From Legislation Cutting State Payments To Team

Marionneaux’s Bill To Cut Funds Rejected By Finance Committee

The Louisiana State Senate Finance Committee voted 7-2 yesterday to reject a bill “to cut off all direct payments” to the Saints, saying that they “could not support the proposal because the state must stand behind its commitments with private sector enterprises,” according to Robert Travis Scott of the New Orleans TIMES-PICAYUNE. The bill’s author, State Sen. Rob Marionneaux Jr., said that the measure “would effectively cancel the state’s contract and forbid the state from any future agreements that give or loan money to the team.” Marionneaux supports the state’s plan to renovate the Superdome, and said that his bill “would not prevent that from happening” (TIMES-PICAYUNE, 5/17). Sen. Butch Gautreaux voted against the bill but said the deal with the Saints agreed to by former Gov. Mike Foster was “based on greed instead of need, and [Saints Owner Tom Benson] continues down that greedy path. It’s amazing how insensitive he is to the fiscal needs of this state.” In Baton Rouge, Mark Ballard notes breaking the contract “could cost the state $50[M] in penalties, plus the remaining amount due,” $186M over ten years. Sen. Chris Ullo: “I don’t see any way out of it” (Baton Rouge ADVOCATE, 5/17).

OH WON’T YOU STAY? Also in New Orleans, Peter Finney wrote if NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue “winds up engineering a deal that would send the Saints to L.A., he’d be moving a team with the most loyal following in the NFL (make that one playoff win in 38 years) to an area that has shown, and proved, it could care less, that it prefers its pro football on TV” (TIMES-PICAYUNE, 5/15).