Doesn’t make sense.
The Saints were still getting 5 plus national games during Payton’s run.
The ratings were still high.
Why would the League do everything to cripple a team they were putting on national TV so much at the time?
I personally believe the NFL knows Payton is one of the greatest coaches of this era and they didn’t want him to spend his whole career in one place which at one point seemed like that’s what he was willing to do.