Report: Saints aren’t paying their fair share of payments for Superdome renovations (Update: Saints paid up!)

Every state with a major city has the same fault lines between the city and rural areas. Louisiana is not unique. Major cities drive state economies. For many reasons, New Orleans does not drive Louisiana's economy as much as it should--but one reason (and there are others) is that the city has experienced state hostility for a much longer period than other cities, say, in the South whose ascendancy is much more recent. Those who know the history of Huey Long can address this issue much better than I can.

The big problem I have is a governor treating a major economic entity like a professional sports franchise as a political football, being critical of the organization or even personally attacking its owner to score political points. I am not saying Landry personally attacked Gayle Benson. But Tom Benson was not well liked in the state before Katrina, and Kathleen Blanco made some personal comments about Benson that at the time were well received politically but never should have been made and almost cost the state the franchise. Again, I firmly believe (and this is one of the few times when my opinion is based at least in part on inside information) that but for Katrina, Benson would have moved to San Antonio.

Let's hope that cooler heads on the state prevail. Whatever the demands or aspirations of the Saints and Pelicans, I do believe they are conscious of the optics of what they do and say. This latest incident should never have happened.