Saints go marching out

Well, it's over. There's still a Christmas Eve game left to be played, but San Antonio's fling with the Saints is for all intents and purposes over. Actually, it was over when Tom Benson started dropping hints last month that he absolutely planned to move the team to the Alamo City--just as soon as a new $500 million stadium was built. Right. And now word comes that back-room negotiations among Benson, the NFL and Louisiana have resulted in a guaranteed commitment for the Saints to play the 2006 season in Baton Rouge. A commitment Benson still hasn't formally told San Antonio about.

Not that this is surprising. My biggest concern about this latest NFL flirtation (other than the fact that NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue wants to move the Saints to Los Angeles, not San Antonio) was that Benson has been down this road before. He's used San Antonio as a bargaining chip in negotiations with New Orleans to get better deals for himself in the past, and this one was just a little more crass:

Terrell Owens is taller, stronger and younger than Tom Benson. Owens also likes to pose for cameras rather than push them.

Still, these men are brothers. They are the least likable characters of this NFL season because they have little sense of those around them and because they can't hide their obsession for money.

Both eventually will get some cash. There's always a market for an All-Pro receiver, and there's always one for an NFL franchise. But just as the next team will be wary of Owens, the next city will be of Benson, too.

The knock against the Alamodome--which is otherwise a fantastic place to watch a football game--is the lack of luxury boxes, which only came into vogue right after the dome was built a dozen years ago. It's realistic to project the city spending $100 million on a major renovation to add 80 or so luxury boxes to go with the 38 already in place, along with some reconfigured seating and other amenities. But just last year Benson rejected a $174 million renovation plan for the Superdome, so is there any reasonable expectation that he'd be satisfied with anything less than a brand-new stadium built entirely from diamonds and gold?

But Benson's flaws aren't regional. His story is too national and his image too familiar to this area. His caught-on-tape tiff in Baton Rouge added to that. He couldn't have been a better villain had Drew Rosenhaus orchestrated it for him.

Even Shinn has had a better understanding of how to handle a franchise's evacuation from New Orleans. He's never going back there, but he continues to act as if that is the goal.

Benson, instead, has come across as a cold, uncaring opportunist. And his history in New Orleans before Hurricane Katrina doesn't suggest this is a new trend. He was always angling for a better Superdome deal with a car salesman's approach, squeezing more and more with every negotiation.

Bottom-line emotion: Is this someone you would vote to reward knowing he might do the same to you?

I've said it before and I'll say it again: Expansion is the best route for San Antonio to gain an NFL team. Tagliabue doesn't want to hear it, but someday the NFL will come to town to stay. And the upside of that will be that Benson won't come with them.

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