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Saints Deal
04/22/09 - 09:49 PM
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    BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - The state shouldn’t rush a new deal to
keep the Saints in New Orleans, even if it means the state could
miss out on hosting the 2013 Super Bowl, Louisiana House Speaker
Jim Tucker said Wednesday.
    The Saints’ lease at the Louisiana Superdome runs through 2018,
but the Saints could break it after the 2010 season by paying a $15
million penalty. The state and the NFL team are in negotiations
aimed at extending the club’s lease of the Superdome until 2025.
    Without a new deal in place, New Orleans’ bid for its 10th Super
Bowl - its first since 2002 - would suffer because the team’s
future would remain in doubt. League owners are slated to vote on
the location of the 2013 Super Bowl during meetings May 18-20 in
Florida.
    Tucker, who is from the New Orleans area, said the state’s deal
with the team must be in the best interest of taxpayers.
    “I don’t think we should allow the Super Bowl to rush us into a
questionable deal,” he said.
    Tucker said lawmakers would need to approve parts of any
renegotiated deal between the state and the Saints. And he said
while he’s hopeful, he’s not sure if a deal could be worked out in
time for approval during the legislative session that begins
Monday.
    The Jindal administration and lawmakers hope to free the state
from making annual cash payments to the Saints as part of the deal
that keeps the team in New Orleans.
    The state is reportedly in talks with Saints owner Tom Benson
about buying an office tower next to the Superdome, with the state
leasing much of the building back from him as a way to give Benson
a subsidy without the state simply writing a check to the team
owner each year.
    Both the team and the state’s chief negotiator have refused to
comment on intentions involving the office tower. Tucker said
Wednesday the lease arrangement wasn’t yet decided.
    “It’s not by any stretch of the imagination a done deal,”
Tucker said.