OH, WILL THE SAINTS COME MARCHING IN? BENSON'S OPTIONS INCLUDE LOS ANGELES.

Byline: Billy Witz Staff Writer

NEW ORLEANS - Tom Benson looked the part of a dapper Southern baron in a black pin-striped suit, a shiny gold tie and crisp white shirt, but the Saints owner wasn't the only one putting on his Sunday best.

When the Saints held a press conference in the auditorium of their headquarters last month, rolling out their vision for the team's future in New Orleans, it was a spit-and-polish affair.

After introducing his wife of a few weeks, Gayle, and his granddaughter Rita LeBlanc, an executive with the team, Benson read from the script prepared by the public-relations consultants at the back of the room.

``I love this community,'' said Benson, a New Orleans native, reminding the bank of television cameras and a couple dozen reporters that he bought the franchise nearly 20 years ago to keep it from moving.

When he was finished, after asking the state for relief from the harsh ``economic reality of the NFL,'' Benson left the stage, and the lights were lowered for a 45-minute power-point presentation.

It included video clips of local icons, such as former Saints quarterback Archie Manning, sportscaster Buddy Diliberto, restaurateur Dickie Brennan and businessman Dave Dixon, who helped bring the NFL here in 1967. Each spoke about what the Saints meant to the city.

To underscore this, the pages of a Monday sports section in the New Orleans Times-Picayune were tacked to a bulletin board, with every story about the Saints cut out. Nearly all the pages looked like empty frames.

Arnold Fielkow, the Saints' executive vice president of administration, directed the presentation, touting the economic impact the team has on the area, its role as a good corporate citizen, and its willingness to live with a renovated Superdome (and state subsidies) instead of a new stadium on the banks of the Mississippi River - whatever state leaders saw fit.

Also laid out were other grand ideas, such as the construction of a tailgating park near the Superdome, a soccer and high school football stadium in low-income New Orleans East, and a team hotel on undeveloped land near Saints headquarters.

After nearly an hour of testimony and well-burnished plans, Benson returned to the stage and cut right to the point:

``Let me make this clear,'' he said. ``I don't want to move, and I don't want to sell. We have three choices: We can build a new stadium, renovate the Superdome, or tell us to leave.''

And with that, he exited, stage right. A year from now, Benson may make a grander exit.

The Saints can opt out of their lease after the 2005 season, although they would have to reimburse Louisiana the $81 million they will have received from the state under the current stadium agreement.

That option has driven negotiations between the Saints and the state on a long-term deal that appears to have turned away from a new stadium toward a renovated Superdome, along with the subsidies that range from $12.5 million to $23.5 million under the current lease.

It also has made the Saints - and the Indianapolis Colts, who have a similar option after the 2006 season - a leading candidate to relocate to Los Angeles if the NFL chooses not to place an expansion team in the stadium it hopes is ready by 2008.

``Obviously, we sense Los Angeles is out there,'' said Tim Coulon, chairman of the Superdome Commission and the lead negotiator for Gov. Kathleen Blanco. ``We read the articles, but it's not a factor in our game plan. It may be to the Saints.''

Benson and Blanco have expressed the same goal - putting a proposal before the legislature for the spring session in April - but the governor wants the Saints to bear some of the renovation costs. The Saints have resisted, arguing that because of market constraints, they need the renovations and subsidies.

The tone of the negotiations has become increasingly tense.

After the Saints laid out their proposal, Blanco responded with a statement praising Benson's goal of remaining in New Orleans and his willingness to consider a renovated Superdome, but he noted: ``Of course, the negotiations have been and always will be about money, and I have heard very little discussion of that in Mr. Benson's proposal.''

Benson wants an agreement by Feb. 1, but Blanco has put off negotiations until the new year, when she'll present her own proposal.

Earlier this month, Fielkow caused a tempest when, during a statewide campaign with newspaper editorial boards, he told the Baton Rouge Advocate that the Saints wouldn't open their books and fans would have to take ``a leap of faith'' about the team's finances.

``If they expect us to open up the coffers, I expect them to open up their books,'' said State Sen. Gerald Theunissen (R-Lake Charles), whose district lies southwestern Louisiana.

Fielkow, in an interview Friday, said the Saints were awaiting the governor's response, were optimistic an agreement in principle could be reached by Feb. 1, and admitted ``we've got work to do'' to win over the legislature. He declined further comment.

If there is ill will toward the Saints, it stems from the current deal, forged in 2001 by former Gov. Mike Foster when Benson threatened to move.

Early that year, less than two weeks after the first playoff victory in franchise history, the Saints demanded an arbitration hearing, claiming the state was in default of its lease because the Superdome wasn't being maintained to NFL standards.

Rather than risk arbitration, Foster agreed to a deal that gave the Saints $186.5 million in payments and concessions over the next 10 years. This agreement was supposed to serve as a temporary fix while the parties worked out a long-term stadium solution.

Much of the money was expected to come from a 1 percent increase in the local hotel-occupancy tax, making it palatable to those outside New Orleans because it wouldn't come from their pockets.

The deal was put together just before 9/11, which devastated cities such as New Orleans that bank on tourism, but it wasn't signed until April 2002.

The agreement was based on the 8 percent average annual growth of hotel-tax revenues from the late 1980s through the '90s, but it has declined 10 percent in the past three years.

``I voted for everything. I was on the committee that made the recommendation,'' said state representative Billy Montgomery (D-Bossier), whose district is in northwestern Louisiana. ``I'm not as enthused about it as I was at the time. I don't think this should be this big a headache, but the more we stare at it, the less popular the Saints get.''

The state owes the Saints $15 million next July 5. The annual payment increases to $23.5 million by 2009.

The state was $7 million short last summer, requiring Blanco to dip into redevelopment funds to keep from defaulting. The shortfall is expected to be greater next summer.

``The hotel tax had been bread and butter for New Orleans,'' said Superdome general manager Doug Thornton. ``We'd been running at a surplus through 2001, and now we're in a position where we're upside down.''

New Orleans, with a metro population of about 1.3 million, is the 42nd- largest TV market in the country, according to Nielsen figures. The only smaller markets in the NFL are Buffalo, Jacksonville and Green Bay.

There was a time this might not have mattered. The cornerstone of the NFL's exponential growth over the past 40 years has been its revenue- sharing plan, whereby the league's largest source of income - its multibillion TV deals - is distributed evenly among the teams.

In recent years, there also has been large growth in non-shared, mostly local revenue streams, such as suite sales, stadium signage and local radio contracts. This has created a $101 million gap in revenues between the top and bottom teams, according to September projections by Forbes magazine.

The Saints took in $146 million in revenues last season, according to Forbes, placing them 18th overall. Subtract the $15 million given by the state, and they are next-to-last among the 32 teams.

``It's much harder to successfully operate a small-market club today than it has in a long time in the NFL,'' said Marc Ganis, a sports-finance expert who is president of Chicago-based Sportscorp Ltd. ``Ten years ago, you had teams leaving L.A. and going to places like St. Louis, and there was expansion into markets like Charlotte and Jacksonville. There was the feeling these small markets did better than big-market teams. That's turned on its head.''

Making it increasingly difficult for the Saints is that their market, which expands into the Gulf Coast region of southern Mississippi and Alabama, isn't affluent, even by Southern standards.

New Orleans has just one Fortune 500 company and the state only two. That has largely why the state has been unsuccessful in selling the naming rights to the Superdome. Or why the NBA's Hornets, who moved from Charlotte three years ago, were next-to-last in NBA attendance last season.

``There's some wealthy people (in New Orleans), for sure, but the population is skewed toward the poor,'' said Jim Richardson, an economics professor at LSU. ``It's a small market of people buying those real pricey suites.''

That's why - for all the amenities proposed in the Superdome's $168 million renovation, such as moving lower-level seats closer to the sidelines, an overhaul of the club lounges, and moving the press box to accommodate more suites, all moves designed to generate revenue - a question lingers: Who will buy them?

Louisiana lags near the bottom of the nation in public spending on education, health care and environmental protection.

``Louisiana is dead last in all the categories you don't want to be dead last in,'' said Peter Burns, a political science professor at Loyola University in New Orleans.

If the state leads the nation in anything, it is corruption.

The past three state insurance commissioners have gone to federal prison, two New Orleans judges have recently been jailed or investigated on bribery charges, and the FBI's Louisiana bureau routinely leads the nation in filing corruption cases.

One of the state's most popular political figures is Edwin Edwards, the state's only four-term governor, who is serving a 10-year racketeering sentence in federal prison.

This explains why, despite the state's economic shortcomings and the Saints' miserable history - seven winning seasons in 38 years - there is little, if any, organized opposition to giving the Saints what they want.

Money spent on the Saints might be better spent on improving public education, reforming the tax code or cleaning up corruption, Burns said. It would surely do more to attract business than the Saints.

``But New Orleans is kind of a status-quo place, as is Louisiana,'' he added. ``When you talk about putting money into education, a lot of people say, 'You know what? With all the corruption, we'd be better off giving the money to the Saints.'''

The Saints' history and Benson's demands have hurt their popularity, but few in New Orleans want to see the team leave.

``If you want a pro team, you've got to cough it up,'' said season-ticket holder Carl St. Julien, shrugging his shoulders.

If decadent and decaying New Orleans is the City That Care Forgot, it also is the city in which to forget your cares - a breeding ground for optimism, as well as flying cockroaches.

No wonder that so many Saints fans believe one day they'll get to a Super Bowl - and they can't wait to be in that number.

``I got faith,'' said Craig Robinson, a 39-year-old season-ticket holder. ``I'm waiting for that big day. It's going to come. Sooner or later, with the right chemistry, the right owner, we'll get it.

``When it happens, it'll be like Mardi Gras, except bigger. It will be the biggest celebration this place has ever seen.''

That day doesn't appear imminent, not with another disappointing season - the Saints are 5-8 - and speculation that coach Jim Haslett and the front office might be swept out at season's end. On-field failures haven't made it easier on the Saints as they make their case for financial support.

Neither does Benson's penurious track record. In the late '90s, when his auto dealerships were flagging, Benson tried to move some of their administration into the $6 million headquarters the state built for the Saints - until state officials got wind of it.

``It doesn't seem as if there's an end to what Mr. Benson keeps asking for,'' said Montgomery, the state representative. ``The way the people of Louisiana see Mr. Benson is not in a very good light.''

Not that Blanco has it easy, either. The wife of a former college football coach, she knows how to keep score - as a Democrat, she can't win re-election in three years without the support of New Orleans.

If the Saints go, so do her chances, Burns said.

Yet Blanco has shown a willingness to stand firm. When the Saints wanted to take money and land earmarked for expansion of the convention center and build the riverfront stadium, Blanco stood with the tourism industry in opposition. The Saints acceded to renovating the Superdome.

The stakes also are high for Benson. If there is no new agreement with the state and the Saints don't exercise their option after next season, they'll be kissing their leverage goodbye.

The state has an opt-out clause after the 2007 season, thereby voiding the final $70.5 million in payments to the Saints. The team would be free to leave, but where would it go? Los Angeles will likely have a team by then.

The Saints, whom Benson bought for $72 million, were valued by Forbes at $585 million and would be worth millions more in Los Angeles than any other market. Whether Benson, 73, wants to turn the club over to his granddaughter, or would consider selling it, is the subject of backroom speculation.

Once the season is over, the Saints and the state will sit on opposite sides of the table, and answers will begin to form.

``My point is what are the Saints willing to do?'' asked Theunissen, the state senator. ``They've got a bunch of millionaires running around on the field, Tom Benson is making millions and millions, yet they want the state, which is in desperate need of health care, whose teachers are among the lowest paid, to enhance their needs.

``Well, I'm not for giving the farm away. If that's what they want, I say good riddance. Hopefully, L.A. will build you a beautiful stadium, and good luck in the future.''

Billy Witz, [phone]

billy.witz(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

photo

Photo:

(color) no caption (Saints fans, Tom Benson, Joe Horn, and the Superdome)

Photo Illustration by Shane Michael Kidder