Welcome to my website and blog. I am a longtime New Orleans journalist, business writer and author of the upcoming biography,Tom Benson: A Billionaire's Journey. It is the story of the New Orleans Saints owner's relentless pursuit of wealth and the triumphs and tragedies he experienced before seeing his family come utterly unglued as he approached 90 years of age.
In researching this book I became so interested in the NFL and the business of sports that I wanted to write more, so I have begun publishing occasional blogs about it all, beginning with a closer look at Tom Benson's long fight with his heirs over his $2 billion estate.
When editors at Forbes.com on Thursday publicized their annual valuation estimates of National Football League teams and pegged the New Orleans Saints at $1.75 billion, they didn't do Tom Benson any favors.Read more
A federal judge has given New Orleans Saints owner Tom Benson and three of his heirs, who have battled with him over ownership of assets that include his two sports teams, more time to work out details of a settlement that is likely worth more than $1 billion.Read more.
Terms of an agreement over who owns the New Orleans Saints could become final within a few weeks, and while the details may remain under wraps, indications are that the $835 million valuation Tom Benson placed on his heirs' interest in the team was not a high enough price to buy them out. Read more.
A veil of secrecy cloaks the recent settlement of disputes over the estate of New Orleans Saints and New Orleans Pelicans owner Tom Benson, but public records indicate that the billionaire and his heirs were far apart in how they valued his teams and that pricey assets such as Benson's San Antonio condominium changed hands even before the battle ended.
