Category: Gayle Benson

How big a part did fans pay in Saints’ coaching change?

Saints fans were frustrated with Dennis Allen for a long time. Eventually, those frustrations became too loud for Gayle Benson to ignore:

When New Orleans Saints owner Gayle Benson, not Mickey Loomis, made the decision to fire Dennis Allen, she listened to the fan base, literally.

Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer said, “Benson and her group was hearing from the fan base in a way they hadn’t before.” The fan base wasn’t the reason Allen was relieved of his duties, but their vocal opposition to him remaining as coach played a part. Breer reported Benson’s “resolve was strengthened through that.”

Saints fans have been frustrated with Allen for a while. Many fans hoped for his termination at the end of last season. Allen was .500 as the Saints head coach coming into 2024, but with context it wasn’t impressive. The inability to take advantage of a weak schedule or defeat quality teams over two years had taken its toll.

Things improved to start the season. The addition of Klint Kubiak had the Saints looking like a high flying offense and one of the best teams in the NFL. That may have made the seven game losing skid hurt even more because those first two weeks were essentially false hope.

Being embarrassed at home in back to back weeks against the Buccaneers and Broncos only incited fans more. The chants for change weren’t always vocal, but the volume was louder than ever. Loud enough to reach ownership.

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Internal and external pressure led Gayle Benson to fire Dennis Allen

Internal feedback from players and external pressure from frustrated fans led Gayle Benson to fire Saints head coach Dennis Allen:

Gayle Benson made an unprecedented decision to fire New Orleans Saints coach Dennis Allen this week after the team’s 2-7 start to the season, and it took a combination of internal feedback from players and external pressure from frustrated fans to sway her mind.

Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer reported that Benson and her ownership group “was hearing from the fan base in a way they hadn’t before, and their resolve was strengthened through that, to the point where perception inside the building holds that Allen might’ve been fired Monday even if he’d beaten the Carolina Panthers.”

That lines up with reporting from NewOrleans.Football’s Nick Underhill, who wrote that Benson had spoken with several players to gauge their feel for the team’s direction. And what they told her wasn’t good.

Benson, who inherited the team from her late husband in 2018, had been content to trust Loomis on football decisions. But his trust in a coach with a losing record even before the Saints hired him warranted reevaluation. Loomis later told NOF’s Mike Triplett that he characterized it as more of an “organization decision” than a serious disagreement with Benson.

Still, at the end of the day this is Benson’s team, and this was her decision to make. Allen was a big part of their success in the playoff pushes of 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020, but by now it’s clear he wasn’t cut out to be a full-time head coach. He’ll be searching for his next opportunity elsewhere. Loomis and Benson will be looking for their next coach.

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Gayle Benson presents Pope Francis with personalized Saints jersey

New Orleans Saints owner Gayle Benson presented Pope Francis with a personalized Saints jersey while visiting Rome:

There aren’t many New Orleans Saints jerseys to be found in Vatican City, and one of the few you’ll see there is personalized for the Pope himself. Saints owner Gayle Benson received a personal audience with Pope Francis this week, in which she gifted him a custom No. 1 jersey emblazoned with “Papa Francesco,” as seen a photo shared by WDSU’s Fletcher Mackel.

Mackel reports that this was just one stop on Benson’s 10-day trip in Europe. She also petitioned the Papal Foundation and other business and tourism groups for investments in New Orleans and renovations to the iconic St. Louis Cathedral. She’ll visit Italy and Germany as part of this tour before returning to Louisiana.

Benson has deep ties to the Catholic Church and the Archdiocese in New Orleans; it’s where she met her late husband Tom Benson, and she maintains a close friendship with Archbishop Gregory Aymond. But that relationship has drawn scrutiny between Benson donating tens of millions of dollars to the archdiocese and the involvement of Saints executives in assisting the church with damage control during its clergy abuse crisis.

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Reports outline Gayle Benson’s Saints ownership succession plan

Reports outline Gayle Benson’s Saints ownership succession plan

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The Times-Picayune | Advocate and WVUE-TV reported the first installment in a three-chapter series on the future of the New Orleans Saints on Thursday, the details of which were confirmed by ESPN’s Mike Triplett.

Here’s the gist of it: Benson, 74, has no heirs and intends for the Saints to be sold upon her passing to a buyer who is contractually-bound to keep the team in New Orleans, and for the proceeds to be donated to charities throughout the city. Saints president Dennis Lauscha will serve as the executor of her estate (and, if he is no longer around, for team executives Mickey Loomis and Greg Bensel to see to it).

That would create an influx of potentially several billions of dollars — the latest estimates value the team at more than $2.5 billion — to the New Orleans community, distributed over the years and committed to serving those who need it. Additionally, the Superdome recently inked a long-term naming-rights deal with Caesars Entertainment, which includes options to extend the arrangement another ten to twenty years, further raising the Saints’ valuation. There are still many details to be worked out, but it’s good to know that money would be put to good use.

The future of the Saints has been a topic of curiosity and anxiety ever since longtime owner Tom Benson died in 2018; now, we know there’s a plan in place to keep the team where it belongs and directly benefit the fans and community that have made it so special.

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Saints owner Gayle Benson makes $1M donation towards Hurricane Ida relief

Saints owner Gayle Benson makes $1M donation towards Hurricane Ida relief

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It’s going to take a team effort to recover from the impact of Hurricane Ida, so it’s good to see New Orleans Saints owner Gayle Benson taking a first step towards helping her city rebuild. Benson opened the Gulf Coast Renewal Fund with a $1 million donation on Monday, Aug. 30, all earmarked for the upcoming recovery. Anyone interested in donating can do so at NewOrleansSaints.com/hurricaneida.

Before Ida made landfall in coastal Louisiana, Benson commissioned two commercial flights to transport Saints players, coaches, and many of their family members to safety in Dallas. She herself evacuated to her 600-acre racehorse farm in Kentucky, per the Times-Picayune | Advocate’s Jeff Duncan.

Hopefully this is the first donation of many more to come from Benson. The Saints received a $2.825 billion valuation from Forbes earlier this year and bring in revenue in excess of $400 million annually. It’s a great gesture, but there’s much more she and New Orleans’ wealthiest citizens can do to better the city that has enriched them during its time of greatest need.

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Report: Saints owner Gayle Benson victim of attempted carjacking

New Orleans Saints owner Gayle Benson was the victim of an attempted auto theft in Orleans Parish, near Tulane University on Oct. 10.

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New Orleans Saints owner Gayle Benson was the victim of attempted auto theft last weekend, reported WDSU’s Fletcher Mackel. Few details have been clarified about the incident yet, though Mackel added that Benson was in her car at the time.

Saints senior vice president of communications Greg Bensel announced that, “While she was very shaken at the time, she was unharmed and is doing fine.” Bensel also said that there is an ongoing investigation from the New Orleans police department.

Nola.com’s Ramon Antonio Vargas and Amie Just reported that the attempted theft happened on Oct. 10, across the street from Tulane University.

It’s a wild story, and it’s very fortunate that Benson escaped injury or other threats to her well-being. Stay tuned for any new developments.

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Saints owner Gayle Benson diagnosed with COVID-19

New Orleans Saints owner Gayle Benson was diagnosed with COVID-19, making her the latest member of the team to contract the coronavirus.

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The COVID-19 pandemic has again touched the New Orleans Saints, with team owner Gayle Benson testing positive for a coronavirus infection. News of Benson’s diagnosis was first reported by Amie Just and Ramon Antonio Vargas for the Times-Piacyune | New Orleans Advocate on Friday, who added that Benson is receiving medical care and recovering well. Nick Underhill reported for NewOrleans.Football that Benson has been working from home and was not hospitalized.

Earlier this year, Saints coach Sean Payton tested was diagnosed with COVID-19 and quarantined at home for several weeks while recovering. Three Saints players (linebacker Kaden Elliss, long snapper Zach Wood, and wide receiver Deonte Harris) have entered the NFL’s COVID-19 protocol during training camp but were cleared within days, which is believed to be due to false positive test results.

Benson inherited ownership of the Saints and New Orleans Pelicans in 2018 after her late husband, Tom Benson, died of pneumonia. She has since used her resources to upgrade team facilities, keep the Saints competitive in free agency despite often skirting close to the salary cap, and house nearly 180 team personnel and players in a “semi-bubble” at a nearby hotel during Saints training camp. Here’s hoping she pulls through.

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Saints owner Gayle Benson donates $1 million to help fight COVID-19

New Orleans Saints and Pelicans owner Gayle Benson has committed $1-million towards helping those affected by the COVID-19 coronavirus.

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New Orleans Saints and Pelicans owner Gayle Benson has committed $1 million towards creating a relief fund for service industry workers, establishing the Gayle Benson Community Assistance Fund. This fund will provide financial assistance for those workers that need it with the New Orleans-area tourism economy suffering due to the COVID-19 coronavirus.

Furthermore, Benson has implemented the Arena Assistance Fund. This program will ensure that all arena workers affected by the suspension of NBA league play will still receive wages for the remaining postponed games.

These actions comes after multiple NBA stars such as Zion Williamson, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Blake Griffin and others have committed portions of their own salaries to ensure arena workers are looked after during this unconventional time. While many NBA owners have been quiet on this front (aside from Mark Cuban, who immediately identified a need to assist his employees who were suddenly out of work), others have stepped up to help the less fortunate. Here’s hoping Benson’s actions will spur her peers to action.

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Gayle Benson issues statement amid Saints’ involvement in Catholic abuse lawsuit

New Orleans Saints owner Gayle Benson released a statement regarding her team’s involvement in a lawsuit against the local Catholic Church.

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New Orleans Saints owner Gayle Benson released a lengthy statement regarding the team’s involvement in a lawsuit against the local Catholic Archdiocese, detailing her relationship with Archbishop Gregory Michael Aymond and the actions taken by Saints team personnel.

A lawsuit was recently filed against the Archdiocese alleging systemic abuse by clergy, and the Saints were implicated as having gone to court to protect email correspondence with the Church during a report from the Associated Press. A later report from the plaintiffs’ attorneys provided alleged details about the involvement of Saints staffers such as Greg Bensel, the senior vice president of communications.

In her statement, Benson confirmed that Bensel was asked to help the Church’s communications staff and that she has no regrets about the recommendations he made. She also dismissed the report that any Saints personnel were involved in choosing which accused clergy’s names should be made public back in 2018. However, she doubled down on the decision to involve the Saints in the situation with the Church.

Benson wrote, “We are proud of the role we played and yes, in hindsight, we would help again to assist the Archdiocese in its ability to publish the list with the hope of taking this step to heal the community. In addition, we already turned over every email to the court and plaintiff attorneys.”

Later, attorneys representing the plaintiffs responded in a brief statement to The Times-Picayune | New Orleans Advocate, refuting Benson’s account of the events:

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