OK, reality-check time. Despite all my self-important blather and twenty-dollar words, I'm not talking about anything momentous here- my work doesn't merit the attention of Stephen Ambrose. The NFL stages elaborate, ultimately inconsequential events in an attempt to make money; assigning moral heft to the coverage of pro football is largely folly.
And yet, a community can invest great emotion in a sports team; it represents an important shared experience for the citizens inhabiting a geographic region. This point was emphasized in the opening paragraph of "The Economic Impact of the New Orleans Saints, 1999" by UNO professor Timothy Ryan-
The New Orleans Saints football team is a very important part of New Orleans and of Louisiana -- from an emotional, psychological, and economic point of view. To a large extent, as the only professional sports franchise in the city, the Saints make New Orleans a major league city. The city bleeds over every loss and exalts over every win. The purpose of this report is to estimate the economic impact of the New Orleans Saints on the New Orleans and Louisiana economies.Because the report's aim is to focus on the economic aspects, the emotional/psychological angle naturally receives little attention; instead the emphasis is on the prominent share of revenue the team brings to the area. That share is in fact embarrassingly prominent due to New Orleans' relative dearth of alternate industries. Sure there's tourism and the Port, but New Orleans is almost completely bereft of "new-economy" corporate citizens, which is reflected in the poor state of the local economy.
When the populace is poor, it's hard for a team to make much money from ticket sales; another avenue is to secure a good stadium contract. Before the previous regime fell apart, Terry O'Neil was set to begin lobbying the state legislature for better terms on the team's (already generous) Superdome lease. Owner Tom Benson went so far as to invoke the name of Bud Adams, who moved his team from Houston; to my eye, the blackmail of franchise free agency was avoided only because the Saints' spectacular on-field collapse put fans into a violently unaccommodating mood. To his credit, Benson did the right thing by retreating and cleaning house.
I believe the team came very close to disaster in the past year. Emboldened by uncritical fan response, Benson gave long-term contracts to Ditka and Kuharich; the Ricky Williams gamble was an attempt to bring immediate success (at the price of mortgaging the future) in order to help the team's bottom line. But not for Ricky's injury, the coaching/management shake-up would not have occurred, and (in my opinion) the Saints would currently be threatening to leave the city.
Granted, the team has some legitimate beefs- New Orleans' small-market status, for example (only Green Bay, Buffalo, and Jacksonville are smaller). However, the NFL is a friendlier place for small-market teams than, say, Major League Baseball. With the salary cap and revenue sharing (especially the television contract money), NFL teams in small markets stand a good chance of being both competitive and profitable. True, not all owners have Daniel Snyder's deep pockets full of signing bonus money, or the security of the Cowboys brand-name that gives Jerry Jones the confidence to thumb his nose at the League. I still maintain that the Saints can both win football games and turn a healthy profit.
Solipsistically enough, the prospect of New Orleans losing the Saints hits home on a personal level, because this entire manifesto is ultimately about me. Allow me to explain.
Recall that my audience is that of displaced Saints fans- SAINTERNET exists because a generation of New Orleanians has left home. I embody this demographic trend; I felt the need to attend college out-of-state, will almost certainly find employment outside of Louisiana, and will thus end up living away from where I was born. Is it a coincidence that Saints fans reserve special ire for the Cowboys and Falcons, teams located in cities toward which New Orleans' economic refugees often flee? Perhaps New Orleans' essence is incompatible with the modern world; in any event it is sad to see it die. On balance, the city's old-world charms are losing out to economic realities.
And thus we arrive at the central contradiction of this manifesto- whereas I have left New Orleans for economic reasons, I ask the Saints not to do the same. I believe the team can survive (and prosper) in the NFL, despite the city's unhealthy state. Of course, fixing the social and educational problems underlying New Orleans' condition is paramount; a successful franchise could provide a much needed morale boost, however. Conversely, losing the Saints would be a devastating blow to the city's psyche.
And so, as SAINTERNET enters its denouement, I call upon my online compatriots to carry on the torch, to keep Saints fans informed about the team, and to demand what's best for the franchise. Help bring joy to long-suffering Saints fans everywhere.