MNF Praises Owner Who Tried To Abandon New Orleans

Monday Night Football spent part of tonight's broadcast practically blowing Saints owner Tom Benson, after it was announced earlier that he had donated $11 million to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Ten million dollars will go towards renovating Canton's Fawcett Stadium (including renaming it "Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium"), while one million dollars supports "a mixed-use residence that includes room for Hall of Famers and former NFL players."

In case you have forgotten, Tom Benson is the slimeball who relentlessly threatened to move the Saints unless he received sweetheart concessions from the State of Louisiana and City of New Orleans. The post-Katrina deal he eventually negotiated sees him reap an estimated $392 million in state subsidies, simply for keeping the team in New Orleans. Forbes estimates that Benson is worth $1.63 billion, and is the 381st richest person in the United States. I'm sure residents of Louisiana are thrilled that some of the money they pay in taxes is going to a billionaire so that he can get his name on a 22,000 seat stadium in Ohio.

Below is our story from when a garish larger-than-life statue of Benson was unveiled outside of the Superdome.