Saints owner Tom Benson says he will not sell team or NBA’s Pelicans

Saints owner Tom Benson reiterated Sunday that he will not sell the team.

Saints owner Tom Benson reiterated Sunday that he will not sell the team after a column in The Times-Picayune called on him to relinquish control of the franchise and the NBA’s New Orleans Pelicans.

The column,which ran on the front page of the paper on Sunday, contains a statement from Benson in which he says, “Retiring, selling any part of these teams are not part of my thinking in anyway.”

Benson issued a longer statement Sunday evening calling the piece “scurrilous.”

“I am not selling either team,” Benson said. “That is not in my makeup. I am not retiring or stepping aside, while I do appreciate all of the sincere concern for my health.”

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Benson’s family filed a lawsuit this summer seeking to have the 88-year-old owner declared mentally incompetent of running the franchises. A judge ruled in favor of Benson but his heirs filed an appeal. 

- Dan Gartland