NEW ORLEANS -- Talks on a new deal for the New Orleans
Saints continued on Tuesday. Not between the team and the state,
but between the governor's chief negotiator and state lawmakers.
"We're hearing lots of new ideas," Steve Perry said after
meeting with New Orleans legislators. "What's developing is a lot
of new threads that we're trying to pull together."
Neither Perry, nor those at the meeting, would say what the new
ideas were. Perry said he wanted to discuss them with the Saints
before making them public.
"We're at the finish line," Perry said. "Now we're looking
for the boost that will get us across the finish line. We got two
or three very promising ideas today."
The meeting with lawmakers came a day after business leaders met
to study all the offers and counteroffers that have been made so
far in an effort to blend them into a deal. That group hopes to
meet with Saints negotiators this week and be able to make a
recommendation to Perry.
Perry said he would also talk to Saints director of
administration Arnold Fielkow this week. Perry still expects to
have an offer ready for Saints owner Tom Benson when he meets with
Gov. Mike Foster on Monday.
The meeting between Benson and Foster was set up after each side
charged the other with not dealing in good faith and breaking off
negotiations.
Benson and the governor exchanged letters and Benson extended
what he called his final offer. The latest proposal agrees to
postpone a decision on a new stadium for the team, but asks for
other concessions and a guaranteed $15 million a year in new
revenue.
Although the Saints called their last offer their final one,
Perry said he doesn't expect negotiations to end until they reach a
deal.
"The (NFL) commissioner has asked us not to consider anything
final until we reach an agreement," Perry said. "He wants both
sides to stop drawing lines in the sand."
Lawmakers said they believe the commitment to keep the Saints is
strong among both the legislators, city officials and the business
community.
"We must first decide what we want to do and then how to pay
for it," Rep. Mitch Landrieu, D-New Orleans, said.
The money from the deal will come from the New Orleans area, he
said, not from statewide sources. Revenue from the Superdome and
the hotel and motel tax would be two sources.
"We're going to try to do everything we can to try to keep the
Saints," Landrieu said.
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