NFL can’t allow Saints to relocate

Ben Smith

OK, I get this now. This is where Paul Tagliabue unleashes his inner Corleone, right? This is where he tells Tom Benson he’s comin’ to New Orleans for a little “chat.” -NFL Football-

This is where he tells San Antonio Mayor Phil Hardberger they need to reach an “accommodation.” -NFL Football-

This is where he shows up on both men’s doorsteps, unannounced, and suggests they go for a ride. Just the three of them. Clemenza will bring the canoli. -NFL Football-

OK, OK. So it’s a stretch to see the distinguished, bespectacled Tagliabue as a mob boss, putting the arm on unruly associates. But whatever hammer the man wields as commissioner of the National Football League, he needs to pick it up now. -NFL Football-

Heard the latest from the NFL, aka Now For (some) Larceny? -NFL Football-

The Raiders are having a hell of a year. -NFL Football-

Published reports in the San Antonio Express-News say Benson, the owner of the New Orleans Saints, plans to void his lease with the Louisiana Superdome, claiming that Hurricane Katrina has made it unusable. He’s already informed Louisiana officials he plans to abandon the Saints’ training facility in Metairie, La., claiming the damage caused by FEMA’s use of the facility for disaster relief has rendered it unusable, too. -NFL Football-

All of this is an alleged attempt to bail on New Orleans, whose storm-ravaged economy suddenly looks a lot less appealing than, say, that of San Antonio or Los Angeles. The first opened its arms to the Saints after Katrina, offering the use of training facilities and the Alamodome for three games. The second has had the Saints on its radar for years as a candidate for relocation. -NFL Football-

I don’t know what the standards are for vile behavior in the NFL these days – Bob Irsay’s moving violation and Art Modell painting the Browns purple used to be the benchmark – but clearly they are not what they used to be. They are far worse. -NFL Football-

What can you say about two cities openly taking advantage of a horrendous human tragedy to steal a piece of ravaged New Orleans’ civic identity? That perhaps I was too hasty in saying it was a good year for Raiders? That perhaps it’s more accurate to say it’s a better year for vultures – and that these days, when lunch is served in San Antonio and Los Angeles, carrion flambé is the preferred dish? -NFL Football-

At least in L.A. officials have displayed a little squeamishness about the propriety of all this. The general manager of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Pat Lynch, told Alan Abrahamson of the Los Angeles Times there’s no “time or place to ever bring up” the subject. And Bill Chadwick of the Coliseum Commission said it “clearly would be bad form for the commission to reach out to New Orleans.” -NFL Football-

In San Antonio, on the other hand, Hardberger has no such qualms. And apparently no conscience, either. -NFL Football-

He’s openly discussed what sort of improvements to the Alamodome would have to be made, and announced over a week ago that he expects negotiations between San Antonio and the Saints would begin early next year. All this appeared in an Express-News piece devoted to Hardberger’s “Saints relocation efforts.” -NFL Football-

Saints relocation efforts? -NFL Football-

What’s Hardberger’s next act, seducing the woman whose husband’s in a coma? -NFL Football-

That’s essentially what he’s doing here, and Benson – for all his poormouthing about keeping the Saints in New Orleans – is apparently amenable to it. This despite the fact that he’s given New Orleans little except years of lousy football. This despite the fact that New Orleans has given him 36 straight sellouts anyway. -NFL Football-

Even Paris Hilton would blush at this sort of crassness. -NFL Football-

Tagliabue, meanwhile, needs to do more than blush. He’s already pledged the league’s help to New Orleans; now he needs to sit on the vultures. He needs to remind L.A. that the reason it doesn’t have an NFL franchise is that it’s a serial failure as a pro football town. He needs to tell Hardberger that if he ever wants to see the Alamodome graced by an NFL logo, he needs to stop accessorizing his wardrobe with an eyepatch and a cutlass. -NFL Football-

Tags’ NFL is so obsessed with image it comes close to being pathological about it, what with all the fines for wayward shirttails or wearing the wrong socks. But nothing that’s happened in the last decade approaches this New Orleans business for tarnishing that image. Nothing – not Janet Jackson’s flashdance, not Terrell Owens’ dalliance with the “Desperate Housewives” – comes close to being this tawdry. -NFL Football-

Time to unleash the inner Corleone, Tags. Time for a little “accommodation.” Time to bring down the hammer on certain unruly associates, because suddenly it’s not about keeping that shirttail tucked in. It’s about owners and potential owners who can’t keep their ethics tucked in. -NFL Football-

Somewhere, Bob Irsay is chortling. He’s off the hook at last. -NFL Football-

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Ben Smith has been covering sports in Fort Wayne since 1986. His columns appear four times a week. He can be reached by e-mail at bensmith@jg.net; phone, 461-8736; or fax 461-8648 or at the "Ben Smith" topic of "The Board" at . Ben Smith has been covering sports in Fort Wayne since 1986. His columns appear four times a week. He can be reached by e-mail at bensmith@jg.net; phone, 461-8736; or fax 461-8648 or at the "Ben Smith" topic of "The Board" at .


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