Jindal Saves the Saints! (and Saves the State Tax Money!)
As the readers of this blog will soon find out – I am a die hard Saints fan. GEAUX SAINTS! (And most years I do die hard! They have been a bit better in recent years and were a bad call in the Bears game from a possible Super Bowl berth several years ago!) The Saints almost moved to Los Angeles several years ago and the State of Louisiana intervened to save the team.
The problem is that New Orleans is a small market for a professional franchise and it is difficult to build the fan (that’s paying fan) base to keep a quality operation in town. The Green Bay Packers had the same problem – but they are publicly traded and could not easily move. The Saints are several moving vans away from being a former Louisiana resident. What to do? Most localities beg with tax dollars the teams to stay. Libertarians and many others disagree. I side with the libertarians. Enter Governor Jindal…
The Associated Press however reported recently that the Saints and the state signed a deal to keep the team in the Big Easy until 2025 and that the Saints’ owner, Tom Benson, will take over two other nearby buildings. Governor Jindal also reported that this deal would save Louisiana over the next 17 years the sum of $280,000,000. While not a huge sum, that is great compared to the usual sweetheart deals most governments make to keep pro teams in town. Jindal also asserted that no new tax dollars were spent to keep the team in New Orleans nor will there be a new stadium.
Maybe Governor Jindal should wait after all until 2016 to run for President! He is a great governor now. I applaud his vision to keep the team in town without giving away the store. Now if he could make the Saints a consistent winner, that would be an accomplishment…
photo by JaseMan
May 6th, 2009 at 9:40 am
Thanks for the photo credit.
Go Saints!
May 13th, 2009 at 6:52 pm
JaseMan:
Thanks for your comment.
How you think the Saints will do this year?
Sandy
May 19th, 2009 at 7:09 pm
UPDATE!!!!!!
It appears that the benefits of the Saints deal are already apparent – New Orleans got the 2013 Super Bowl. Maybe President Jindal will come for the game! And the Saints will win!
The Super Bowl was quoted to bring potentially $461 million to the Tampa Bay area accoridng to an NFL official (Frank Supovitz) quoted in the Tampa Bay Business Journal of May 9, 2008 (http://www.bizjournals.com/tampabay/stories/2008/05/05/daily50.html)
There would be other attractions in New Orleans – jazz music, exotic food and history.
More evidence of Governor Jindal’s leadership for the long term.
Sandy Sanders
Assistant Blogger
January 28th, 2010 at 8:58 pm
This article is looking pretty good right now with the Saints in the Super Bowl!
Sandy