NFL Eyeing Incentives For Free Agents Signing With Saints

Tagliabue Eyes Incentives For Players Signing With Saints

NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue said that he and NFLPA Exec Dir Gene Upshaw “have discussed offering players bonuses and enhanced benefits to help the Saints recruit and retain free agents who might be reluctant to live” in New Orleans, according to Jeff Duncan of the New Orleans TIMES-PICAYUNE. Possible incentives for players who sign with the Saints next season include “an extra-accredited season or a roster bonus, which would be paid from the league’s performance-based pay fund.” Tagliabue said the proposal “likely would need to be approved by the league owners and implemented” before free agency starts March 3 (TIMES-PICAYUNE, 11/17). In L.A., Billy Witz writes the possible incentives “did not go over well” with some NFC South rivals. Buccaneers GM Bruce Allen: “You can’t change the system for one team. There are ways to recruit players” (L.A. DAILY NEWS, 11/17). HBO’s Cris Collinsworth: “So (the NFL is) going to impact the competitive balance again and try to make good for taking away a home game earlier. ... That’s not right” (“Inside The NFL,” HBO, 11/16).

Saints Players Hope To Stay In One Place In '06

A PLACE TO CALL HOME: In New Orleans, Mike Triplett reports Saints players met last week with NFL VP/Player Development Michael Haynes. The players said that their main desires for next season are to “stay in one place and that the NFL makes a decision as soon as possible, so they can get their lives and families in order” (New Orleans TIMES-PICAYUNE, 11/17). In San Antonio, Mike Finger reports one possibility involves the Saints returning to their practice facility in Metairie, Louisiana, after this season and “playing all their games in Louisiana next year.” While some players have criticized the turf at Tiger Stadium and are “skeptical about New Orleans’ ability to refurbish the Superdome,” Saints WR Joe Horn said that he “would have no problem” with playing in the state next year. Horn: “The way we left is not the way I want to leave New Orleans.” Saints coach Jim Haslett said, “More than anything, our football team, our players would like to know something soon” (SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS, 11/17).

A LONG DECEMBER: The TIMES-PICAYUNE’s Triplett notes the Saints will have to move out of the Alamodome for most of the month of December because the facility was previously booked for other events, including the NCAA women’s volleyball championship and the Alamo Bowl. Haslett said that staff members and coaches will “move their offices into a vacant San Antonio Water System building.” Triplett notes practices will be held outdoors, but the team has not decided on a site to relocate the locker rooms, weight rooms and training facilities (New Orleans TIMES-PICAYUNE, 11/17).

ANOTHER POTENTIAL BUYER: Louisiana-based banker Richard Blossman Jr. said that he and an investor group “have expressed their interest in buying the Saints for more than a year ... since they have ‘had a feeling that the Saints were not happy where they were.’” Blossman said that he talked to Saints Owner Tom Benson’s attorney, Stanley Rosenberg, “about two months ago, but he received no indication that the Saints were interested, and no specific details were discussed.” Benson has maintained that he has no desire to sell the team and that he “wants to pass the franchise onto his grandchildren.” Louisiana native Terry Bradshaw has also said he has an investment group interested in buying the team (New Orleans TIMES-PICAYUNE, 11/17).