The Saints are close to signing a new long-term lease that would keep the franchise playing their home games at the Caesars Superdome. Nola.com reporter Jeff Duncan says it has been a difficult agreement to reach, because Saints Owner Gayle Benson is 78 years old and someone else will likely take over as owner at some point during the length of this deal.
“It’s complicated by that fact from the NFL’s point of view. You don’t want to saddle a new owner with a deal that they’re not familiar with, or with one that they don’t feel is favorable,” Duncan explained.
Duncan says sources have told him the agreement calls for a ten-year lease followed by four five-year extensions, with the Saints retaining the right to exercise each extension. The lease agreement runs through 2055. But Duncan says it doesn’t guarantee that the team will stay in New Orleans. He says sources have told him the relocation penalty could only be as high as $250 million.
“This is going to be on Gayle Benson, a New Orleanian, Dennis Lauscha, the president of the team, who’s also a native New Orleanian.
It’s going to be up to them, I think, to find the next owner. And we have to trust, and it’s important to their legacy, to find someone that keeps the team in the state,” Duncan said.
Duncan expects the lease agreement will be announced next week, and he says that’s the first domino to fall in an effort to bring the Super Bowl back to New Orleans in 2031, but’s it’s not a sure thing.
“And that would be a quick turnaround by NFL standards. Six years from this past Super Bowl to get another one is certainly quicker than what we’ve seen lately, where it’s 10- and 12-year intervals between games,” Duncan noted.
Duncan once this lease is finalized, attention will turn to the Smoothie King Center as that facility needs a major upgrade to meet NBA standards.
