Sean Payton Stays with Saints

Saints coach Sean Payton said on Wednesday he’s remaining with New Orleans, ending speculation that he could be on the move after consecutive 7-9 seasons.

Payton has been with the Saints for a decade and is coming off his first consecutive losing seasons.

“I don’t envision myself ever coaching for any other clubs,” Payton said.

“I know it appeared there was a looming decision, but I think this is really me saying again: here I am and nothing’s changing and I plan on finishing my career here. I’ll be here as long as they’ll have me.”

Payton began his first and only NFL head coaching job with the Saints in 2006, the season after the team had been displaced by Hurricane Katrina.

Since then, he has gone 87-57 in the regular season with five playoff appearances and one Super Bowl title in the 2009 season.

His playoff record is 6-4. Payton’s record excludes the 2012 season, when he was suspended in connection with the NFL’s bounty investigation.

Payton spoke on Wednesday as Saints owner Tom Benson sat off to the right of the podium, with general manager Mickey Loomis and Saints president Dennis Lauscha standing nearby.

The coach said he understood the speculation about him leaving New Orleans, given that he has been with the Saints for a decade and that coaching vacancies were opening on other clubs as the season wound down.

But Payton stressed: “I knew in my heart of hearts that was not going to be something that was going to come to fruition.

“There will be a time when they don’t want you back, and that’s OK. One by one, that train stops for all of us,” Payton added, then added a line he learned from his mentor, Bill Parcells: “We’re better for having ridden, then never having been on at all.”

Payton said his contract, which runs for two more seasons and pays him about $8 million annually, remains unchanged for now.

“I’m sure at the right time, all those things will take care of themselves,” Payton said.

With Drew Brees as his quarterback, the offense Payton designed has ranked first in the NFL in five of the nine seasons he has coached, never ranking lower than sixth.

However, the Saints have often ranked near the bottom of the NFL defensively during Payton’s tenure.

Related articles

• Saints WR Snead Drawing Comparisons To Lions' Moore
• Saints' Snead drawing comparisons to Lions' Moore
• Bucs notes: WR Dye drops would-be first down pass
• Record belies Saints' improved defense
• New Orleans Saints hurting, go on holiday shopping spree
• Saints-Lions tops Week 15 Fantasy Football Power Rankings

St Louis Rams Kroenke Loves LA

The NFL would benefit most by moving the Rams to Los Angeles, leaving behind a St Louis market that lags economically and a stadium proposal doomed for failure, the team said in their relocation application provided to the Associated Press on Wednesday.

Rams owner Stan Kroenke, a real estate billionaire who still lives in Missouri, has proposed building a $1.8bn stadium in Inglewood, California, with plans to put the Rams back in the market they left to move to St Louis in 1995. The San Diego Chargers and Oakland Raiders want to move to the Los Angeles area, too, proposing to share a stadium that would be built in Carson, California. All three teams submitted applications last week and owners meeting January 12-13 in Houston could make a decision on relocation.

The Rams’ 29-page application, first obtained by the St Louis Post-Dispatch, lauds the Inglewood site, saying it has already been approved by the league as a potential stadium location and would offer far more than just a home for a sports team.

“The stadium serves as the epicentre for a NFL retail and entertainment district that includes a 6,000 seat theatre and up to 8.5m sq ft of office space, hotel retail and dining options,” the Rams said.

The team also explained in a withering assessment why St Louis is no longer worth staying for.

The application said Kroenke has made “significant investments” since taking control of the Rams in 2010, yet attendance is well below average. The team sold out every home game in St Louis from its arrival until 2006, but has rarely sold out in recent years in part because of on-the-field performance. The Rams have not had a winning season since 2003, and finished 7-9 this season.

Taxpayers funded construction of the Edward Jones Dome, which opened the year the Rams arrived. The unusual agreement between the dome authority and the team requires that the dome remain among the top tier of all NFL stadiums. Instead, it is generally considered among the worst, the Rams said, and 12 years of lease negotiations to rectify that were unsuccessful.

Last year, a taskforce appointed by Governor Jay Nixon developed plans for a $1bn stadium along the Mississippi river near the Gateway Arch. Aldermen have already agreed to contribute $150m toward the project, which also calls for state funding, money from personal seat licenses and funding from the league and the owner.

The Rams, though, said the stadium is doomed to failure. For one thing, it notes that the “rent and operating structure are 20 times what the Rams pay now.”

“Any NFL club that signs on to this proposal in St Louis will be well on the road to financial ruin, and the League will be harmed,” the Rams’ application said.

In a statement, the stadium taskforce said it has offered “a spectacular stadium proposal” that is everything the league has asked for.

“The Rams’ assessment of their experience in St Louis after 21 seasons of remarkable support by fans, businesses and the community is inaccurate and extremely disappointing,” the taskforce said.

The Rams raised doubts that the St Louis market, which also has baseball’s Cardinals and hockey’s Blues, can even support an NFL team.

The application cited two NFL-commissioned studies of the Los Angeles, San Diego, Oakland and St Louis markets. It says one study characterized the California markets as vibrant and growing, but said St Louis “lags, and will continue to lag, far behind in the economic drivers that are necessary for sustained success of an NFL franchise.”

Those studies “demonstrate that Los Angeles is a strong market with great opportunity, while St Louis is a market that will in all likelihood be unable to sustain three professional sports teams,” the application said.

Related articles

• Bittersweet finale as St. Louis fans protest possible Rams exit
• Buccaneers vs. Rams 2015 live stream: Time, TV schedule and how to watch online
• Final home games coming, possibly, in St. Louis, San Diego, and Oakland
• Rams remain directionless where it matters most
• Tonight Could Be Last Home Game For St. Louis Rams