New Orleans Saints owner Tom Benson holding the Vince Lombardi Trophy for the New Orleans Saints ... [+]
Gayle Benson’s gifts of unselfish giving and diligently planning ahead will benefit the New Orleans area for decades to come. Benson’s succession plan intends to keep the New Orleans Saints and Pelicans in town for just as long.
As first reported in the Times-Picayune series detailing the plan, proceeds from the sale of both the New Orleans Saints and New Orleans Pelicans will go to local charities and all purchase negotiations will seek to ensure both teams remain in the city. The NFL has already approved the deal and it is expected the NBA will as well. Both leagues would have to approve any new ownership groups. What follows is a breakdown of the money, markets, and future for both teams.
The Money: A Blessing and Curse
Money is both a blessing and a curse here for New Orleans. New Orleans may get a windfall of $5 billion or more once the Saints and Pelicans are sold. That’s the blessing. The curse? Louisiana does not have another billionaire (or two) on hand to purchase the teams.
The late Tom Benson bought the Saints for just over $70 million in 1985. Today the New Orleans Saints are the 46th most valuable sporting team in the world, valued at just under $3 billion. The Saints are worth more than the New York Mets and sit just below Qatar Sporting Investment’s soccer powerhouse Paris Saint-Germain.
New Orleans may need a new sporting savior the same way the Benson’s kept the Saints and Pelicans in town after previous owners had all but abandoned the franchises and/or the city. The Jazz moved to Utah. Benson bought the Saints from John Mecom, saving the team from a potential move to Jacksonville. Benson later bought the Pelicans from the NBA, who had taken over the team from failing owner George Shinn, saving the basketball team from being shipped to Seattle, Nashville, or Las Vegas.
The Saints have increased in value 63% over the last five years. Dave Tepper ($16b net worth) purchased the Carolina Panthers for $2.2 billion in 2018, which topped the $1.4 million sale of the Buffalo Bills to the Pegula ($6b net worth) family in 2014. Steve Ballmer ($33b net worth) purchased the LA Clippers for $2 billion and has already broken ground on a new arena. NBA and NFL teams are not on the market often. Billionaires can afford to overpay for (and relocate) rare toys, imagine that!
The Saints are one of the most beloved brands in sports. Gayle Benson admitted both teams have gotten unsolicited offers. As for local investors, the Manning family, Master P, and Mannie Fresh could max out their net worth credit cards for a billion-dollar minority share. Even that possible local ownership group would still need Lebron James and a few other deep-pocketed friends to scoop up just one team much less both.
The Gulf South may need to make room for two new billionaire owners to keep the teams in New Orleans. Benson and company are already planning for such a situation, even exploring building a new arena for the Pelicans a bit further away from the Caesars Superdome. That money would come in part from the city and state. Taxpayers, citizens, and out-of-state fans coming to enjoy a game will be asked to foot the bill in some way.
That is the most crucial question, regardless of the windfall after the sale: How much will the local citizens be willing to invest to keep the regional sporting attractions near their home instead of moved to a new billionaire’s backyard? New Orleans will beg and barter their last dollar to keep the Saints. The state cannot pinch pennies and hope to keep the Pelicans past the next lease agreement.
According to Times-Picayune reporting, options being considered include a parcel on Loyola Avenue to replace the post office, a tract north of the Smoothie King Center near the Veterans Affairs Medical Center; Duncan Plaza should City Hall relocate, and a plot of land across from the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center on Tchoupitoulas Street that houses a parking lot. If a new arena could spur growth and bring in tens of millions in new revenue, it is an option that should be explored whether located in the Central Business District or near Benson’s Faubourg Brewery as a fallback plan.
The Present and The Plan
Saints president Dennis Lauscha will serve as the executor of the Benson estate. Mickey Loomis and Greg Bensel will assist and would fill in should Lauscha be unable to execute the plan for any reason. All three have deep roots planted in New Orleans. Lauscha could practically see and smell the Superdome by opening his high school window. Loomis and Bensel have helped shape the organization for a few decades combined. The Saints should remain in the city as long as they have a viable home.
There is an ongoing $450 million renovation to address that concern and will keep New Orleans in the big event rotation to host the SuperBowl, Final Four, and College Football Playoff games. The Saints partnership with Caesers and a new Superdome lease cover the next decade with options to extend the deals past 2040. The New Orleans Saints should be in town for the next generation. The Saints' name, colors, logos, records, and history should stay in the city of New Orleans forever.
There are frequent offers for the Pelicans, who are still working to build a foundation as strong as the Saints. Lauscha says gets probably “a phone call once a month for the basketball team” where he politely declines explaining, “You know, I continuously say look, I appreciate the phone call, but we’re not selling. Now, we’ve been offered some tremendous amounts of money for those teams. And all of them have basically been with the thought of, you know, moving to a bigger market and she will absolutely not have any of that. She won’t even entertain it.”
Benson is clear. “There is no way the Saints or Pelicans are ever going to be sold until I close my eyes permanently. Because we get calls, almost daily, people wanting to buy the Saints and or the Pelicans. And I mean, it’s almost laughable. There is no way. As long as I’m going to be alive that I would sell the Pelicans. Tom worked very hard to get the Pelicans here and worked very hard to have it become a championship team, which, of course, we haven’t been successful in that. But I feel like one day we will be.”
The Future
Benson, 74, said the proceeds would be distributed to charities that benefit the people of New Orleans, including the fields of education, health care, arts and sciences, and humanitarian causes. This was the Benson plan formed when Tom was still alive and dancing in the Dome. Tom left the teams to Gayle as she will leave them to the city.
“I can't take it with me," said Benson. "God gives us gifts, and this is a gift. I am a steward for this [organization]. And we help other people with it. My wish is to scatter all the good and gifts that God and Tom have given me to this city and community...I want to make sure that we keep the teams here. I want them to stay in New Orleans forever."
Sean Payton said it best. He is not keeping up with every detail of the succession plan, he is worried about a season. The rest is out of his hands. As far as Gayle Benson, well, Payton believes she “is going to outlive all of us.”
