NFL to San Antonio?

[eastsider]

In an interview with the New Orleans Times-Picayune published today, Tagliabue rejected the idea that San Antonio

[alon504]

Without going into too much detail...just to let the whispers out that this disaster has assured the Saints will remain in New Orleans. The Saints will be playing in Baton Rouge next year. Expect an announcement in the next 6 to 9 months regarding a new stadium in New Orleans for the Saints, with, at least, half of the money coming from the NFL, itself, for construction. Very shortly thereafter, expect an announcement regarding New Orleans and the next available Super Bowl.

[eastsider]

From an article in this weeks business journal:

New Orleans Saints owner Tom Benson says he hopes a trio of regular season NFL games in the Alamodome will "give the city of San Antonio the media attention that it deserves" for scrambling to provide his team temporary refuge.

San Antonio Mayor Phil Hardberger says securing the three Saints games is a touchdown worth nearly $30 million in economic impact -- not counting ticket, merchandise, parking and concessions revenues.

It also says that SA will be taking a regional approach to draw fans from Austin, Corpus Christi, and the Rio Grande Valley.

San Antonio Business Journal: NFL's Saints come marching into S.A.

[eastsider]

The first game that the Saints play in San Antonio is this comeing Sunday. As of yesterday, 15,590 tickets remaind unsold.

San Antonio Express-News: 'One shot' for S.A.'s to grab NFL glory

[eastsider]

This Sunday's game at the Alamodome between the New Orleans Saints and the Atlanta Falcons is officially a sell out.

San Antonio Business Journal: Saints sell out Alamodome for Falcons game

[eastsider]

It seems that now that a regular season NFL game has been played in SA, the Alamodome is capable of being a home to a NFL franchase in the future. Many people had said that the Alamodome would need about $136M in improvements to bring it up tp NFL standards, but that number now looks very exagerated.

San Antonio Business Journal: Alamodome already suited up for the NFL football

[DanRNC]

It looks like San Antonio will be getting the Saints for 2006 at least (although the name will probably change). LA is most likely the final destination though.

ESPN Story

[eastsider]

With the Saints going back to New Orleans looking more and more unlikely, this is an article comparing the possible future homes of the Saints, San Antonio and Los Angeles.

San Antonio Business Journal: Battle for NFL's Saints isn't heavenly affair

[eastsider]

The Saints owner (Tom Benson) and the Louisiana governer reached an agreement last week to extend a deadline that would have allowed the Saints to terminate their Superdome lease until Jan. 15, 2007, meaning that the Saints will be playing in Louisiana next season, most likely in Baton Rouge again.

One of those provisions, known as force majeure, had a late November deadline for the Saints to void the deal and avoid an $81 million exit penalty by declaring that the Superdome is not usable because of Katrina. ......

......Benson's request for a force majeure extension came one week after Hardberger said that the city would not be the source of funding for a new stadium for the Saints.

San Antonio Express-News: Saints marching from S.A.

[Charleston native]

With the Saints going back to New Orleans looking more and more unlikely, this is an article comparing the possible future homes of the Saints, San Antonio and Los Angeles.

San Antonio Business Journal: Battle for NFL's Saints isn't heavenly affair

I just had to respond after reading this quote from the article:

Billy Witz, a writer for the Los Angeles Daily News, predicts that size will matter.

"Much of the where-will-the-Saints-end-up parlor game has focused on San Antonio," he writes in a recent article. "But let's be real. The NFL has learned its mistake in Jacksonville, where never mind the publicly funded stadium and last season's Super Bowl, they're covering seats this season because they can't fill them."

I think Billy Witz must be complete moron with that last statement. A mistake in Jacksonville? The team sells more tickets there than LA ever dreamed of selling. That's like the "pot calling the kettle black", pardon the cliche. With LA metro being the 2nd largest TV market and the 2nd largest metro in population, and yet they couldn't even keep one team in the city, that's pretty pathetic. Jax at least has an excuse being a smaller city, yet they can still attract crowds bigger than ones in LA!

[NcSc74]

I just had to respond after reading this quote from the article:

I think Billy Witz must be complete moron with that last statement. A mistake in Jacksonville? The team sells more tickets there than LA ever dreamed of selling. That's like the "pot calling the kettle black", pardon the cliche. With LA metro being the 2nd largest TV market and the 2nd largest metro in population, and yet they couldn't even keep one team in the city, that's pretty pathetic. Jax at least has an excuse being a smaller city, yet they can still attract crowds bigger than ones in LA!

I totally agree with you on that. I think that is just the LA arrogance thing coming through. Some boosters feel that no matter what has ever happened in the past their city deserves the fast track because of their size. They lost the Rams and the Raiders and still think they deserve a team. But we all know that money and politics will prevail in this fight. As much as I don't like the Saints (NFC south rivals) it would be a shame to leave the city because of Katrina.

[eastsider]

Well the NFL announced today that it has reached a preliminary agreement to have a team play at the Los Angeles Coliseum. They declined to comment on potential teams or a timeframe for when the team would begin playing in L.A.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=ap-n...ov=ap&type=lgns

[eastsider]

It looks like the Saints may play at least some of their games at the Alamodome again next season.

But when asked the prospects for games in San Antonio in 2006, Tagliabue appeared to soften his resistance to the possibility of the Saints playing any games next season outside of Louisiana.

[NCB]

From what he said today to the New Orleans media today, the NFL is looking to have 4 Saints games played in the Superdome, and at least 2 in Tiger Stadium. It looks like the Saints will have a good chance of staying in Lousiana for the 2007 season as well. The real decision making will seemingly come around 2008.

I still think Los Angeles is where the NFL will move the Saints if they relocate, the San Antonio market is just to small to compete against the near 17 million people in L.A.

[eastsider]

Article about pro sports teams recently looking at SA for relocation of their franchises and what benifits that an additional team could add to the city. The article makes the arguement that luring a team to the city would do little for the local economy unlike luring new businesses. The thing that it can add to is the cities image wit hadditional exposure.

San Antonio Express-News: Playing for the pros

[eastsider]

60,000 tickets have been sold so far for the third and final Saints game at the Alamodome this season against the Detroit Lions. Officials expect to have a sell-out of all 65,000 seats by game time on Saturday.

San Antonio Business Journal: Saints expect another sell-out crowd in S.A.

[NCB]

^Weren't nearly 20,000 of those tickets purchased by corporations?

[Architecture in Helsinki]

^Weren't nearly 20,000 of those tickets purchased by corporations?

17,700 tickets were bought by local corporations (AT&T, Valero, HollyHills) and given out to military and their family also hurricane Katrina and Rita evacuees living in San Antonio.

I believe Valero bought (1,200) their tickets to give to their workers.

This is what the NFL and team owners love. Support from corporations and San Antonio has plenty of it. Now to mention corporate support in the long run if the Saints were to stay.

The local business communty (at&t, valero, tesoro, usaa, clear channel, washington mutual, etc) have said they will fully support the Saints if they were to relocate here.

And please don't try to belittle San Antonio because 17,000 tickets were bought by companies. That is how New Olreans pre-Katrina was able to have so many sell-outs, because at the last minute companies would be the remainder of tickets so there would be no black out.

Do you know how many NFL teams would kill for the kind of corp. support SA has shown?

[NCB]

And please don't try to belittle San Antonio because 17,000 tickets were bought by companies.

I wasn't belittling San Antonio, I was simply asking asking a question. I read on a local forum that nearly 20,000 of the tickets sold in San Antonio were bought by companies, and I wanted to see if that statement was true.

[txstate25]

I work at the hotel the Detriot Lions were staying at and I was able to get some opinions from the players and the staff whether or not SA should have and could support an NFL team. To my surprise they were all optimistic and agreed that San Antonio should indeed have an NFL team. But most agreed LA would see one before SA would. One gentleman said he was here for the NBA finals last year and was very impressed with the City and the Fans. He strongly believed that SA could support an NFL team and was surprised it doesnt have one.

[eastsider]

With the Saints heading back to Louisiana next season, NFL Commissioner Tagliabue finally had some good things to say about San Antonio.

Calling San Antonio a "growing and changing market," Tagliabue made it clear the city earned points with the NFL by hosting the displaced team, which averaged 62,666 spectators for the three games at the 65,000-seat Alamodome.

"The sense I have is if we ever get around to considering expansion in the NFL, San Antonio would be on anyone's short list," Tagliabue said.

Tagliabue said that he hoped to meet with city leaders sometime after the season. He also said he was not sure that New Orleans could not support a team long-term, which seems to me like he is already looking down the road to fulfill his wish of having a team in L.A. in the next few years.

San Antonio Express-News: Goodbye NFL - for now, at least

[eastsider]

The city of San Antonio is working on a deal the would the Dallas Coyboys training camp to the city for five years stretching from 2007-2011. Some critics of the plan say it will kill the momentemum of bringing a team to San Antonio, while supporters say it will keep San Antonio's name in NFL circles, plus it is expected to have a $200,000/year economic impact.

San Antonio Business Journal: Camp Cowboys is seen by some as a backward step

[eastsider]

Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said he supports a NFL team coming to San Antonio.

"I was a supporter of the (Texans) coming to Houston, and we have a lot of fans in the Houston area," Jones said. "The facts are that I have found they will continue to be (fans of the Cowboys), and it is that much better for the league and the Cowboys.

"The main thing is I just appreciate great football territory and great sports-interest territory, and San Antonio is that."

Jones was in town to promote the 5-year deal of the Cowboys holding training camp at the Alamodome which begins in 2007. The deal includes a termination clause for the city in the event that San Antonio lands a NFL franchise.

San Antonio Express-News: Football: Cowboys' Jones backs S.A. team