The Saints "moved quickly Thursday to squelch a rumor ... that they were on a short list of teams possibly moving to Canada," according to James Varney of the New Orleans TIMES-PICAYUNE. Saints VP/Communications Greg Bensel "immediately shot down the notion" in an e-mail: "Reports about the Saints as a potential team moving to Toronto are completely false. The New Orleans Saints are committed to the city of New Orleans." The report, citing comments by Toronto Councillor Doug Ford, does "not appear to be taken very seriously by Saints executives, and Bensel also rattled off a series of economic facts to buttress his point." The Saints' Superdome lease runs through '25, and Bensel noted that there is a "5-year option on top of that." One Saints official in an e-mail said the premise of the team relocating is "out of left field" (NOLA.com, 5/5). Varney reports Ford "apologized" Thursday for his comments, insisting that he "never had New Orleans on his short list of possible relocating teams and that he should not have included the Saints in his remarks." Ford acknowledged that his office "received a considerable amount of e-mail from Saints fans as his remarks flew about cyberspace." Ford also "hinted his brother and political ally, Toronto Mayor Rob Ford, was among those displeased with the report" (New Orleans TIMES-PICAYUNE, 5/6). ESPN.com's Pat Yasinskas wrote the Saints are "more firmly entrenched in New Orleans now than they've ever been." Yasinskas: "There's no way I can see the Saints leaving New Orleans" (ESPN.com, 5/5).
ORIGINAL REPORT: THESCORE.com's Brad Gagnon reported Doug Ford said that he was "told last week by NFL Canada that Toronto is 'right up there on the list' of cities awaiting NFL teams." Ford: "Two teams are kind of in play here: Jacksonville's number one, New Orleans is the other. So there's two teams." Ford added the NFL has to "take care of the problem in Los Angeles first." Ford: "Once they take care of Los Angeles, we're going to fly over to New York, set up a meeting with (NFL commissioner Roger) Goodell and give him our pitch." Goodell said that Toronto "lacks an NFL-ready venue," but Ford Wednesday said that he has "talked to Rogers Communications about adding seats to Rogers Centre" (THESCORE.com, 5/5).
