Saints and Hornets Owner Tom Benson “decided to restructure the top management positions within his organization,” according to Mike Triplett of the New Orleans TIMES-PICAYUNE. Benson “started by promoting” Saints Exec VP & CFO Dennis Lauscha to the "newly created position" of Saints President. Lauscha is “expected to have a similar role with the Hornets." Lauscha will "add the responsibilities of overseeing the club's marketing, ticket operations, legal department and community affairs." Meanwhile Saints VP & GM Mickey Loomis will “likely oversee basketball operations." Benson will now serve as Saints Owner & Chair, while his granddaughter, Rita Benson LeBlanc, who has served as Owner and Exec VP of the Saints since ‘05, “will now serve as" Vice Chair. LeBlanc's “expanded role will include enhanced management responsibilities within Zelia LLC, which includes properties such as Benson Tower and Champions Square as well as various interests in the automotive, real estate and banking sectors and multimedia platforms, including Fox affiliate WVUE.” Benson said, “Rita took a couple months vacation there, and people got the wrong impression. We're not reducing her in any kind of way. You're looking at the whole organization, and you can see she's right there. And as we've taken on some of these outside activities, I told Rita I want her to get more involved in them, even if it took away some time here (with the Saints), and leaning on Dennis a little more.” LeBlanc will "continue in her ownership duties" with the Saints. For example, she will "join Lauscha at this week's NFL owners meetings” (New Orleans TIMES-PICAYUNE, 5/20).
HOOPS APPEAL: ESPN.com’s Pat Yasinskas wrote, “I don’t think the shakeup has anything to do with the bounty scandal." Instead, it "comes after Benson agreed to purchase the New Orleans Hornets and his other businesses continue to grow.” Lauscha may "take on some added roles, including helping oversee the Hornets, but he has been instrumental in running the Saints’ business matters for 15 years and that’s expected to continue” (ESPN.com, 5/20). In New Orleans, Jeff Duncan wrote Benson has become “kinder, softer and humbler” and the reorganization of the front office has “stabilized the club and transformed it from what some saw as a standoffish, insular institution to a beloved community-minded civic leader.” Benson’s deeds on and off the field "make him worthy of our forgiveness and a more than deserving Hall inductee” (New Orleans TIMES-PICAYUNE, 5/19). SI.com’s Peter King writes, “I think if I'm a Saints fan, I'm not really pleased with the prospect of GM Mickey Loomis becoming either the official or de facto director of basketball operations with the NBA Hornets." King: "Last time I checked, being the general manager of an NFL team was a full-time job” (SI.com. 5/21).
