Inside New Orleans with Eric Asher Oct. 14, 2026

As I mentioned, Lester Ricard will join us.

at 4.35 this afternoon, and then Scot Craig at 5.10. All right, yesterday we played the audio of Mrs. Benson at the Greater New Orleans Quarterback Club.

Again, for the first time since she took over ownership of the Saints and Pelicans, she went public with her thoughts on the franchises.

And look, when I say went public, I mean, again, what we've seen over the last eight years was really a nice lady who has never really publicly put her employees on notice.

She did that yesterday.

She called out Kellen Moore and his staff, Mickey Lewis and his staff, the players, all by name.

That has never happened, okay? That has never happened in her tenure as an owner in New Orleans over the last eight years, okay? She talked about the standards set by Drew Brees, who led, again, the greatest year in Saints history, and how those standards are the standards for the franchise.

She spoke to and about the fans' frustration with losing and the embarrassing losses to Atlanta and Minnesota on the Dome coming and the Brees' Ring of Honor induction, and the erosion of the standards that were set by Brees during his tenure here.

And then she also spoke of the generations of Saints fans and the loyalty to the franchise and that that was not to be taken for granted.

But most of all, she made it clear that she is responsible for holding the organization accountable.

And that's where I will start today.

I will start with accountability because there has been none within the Saints organization since Sean Payton left.

Those standards that were set by Breeze.

They've been eroding since the departure of, again, Breeze into retirement.

And the same can be said for the sister franchise, the New Orleans Pelicans.

Now, by going public...

She's now going to be held accountable for the state of the franchise.

Look, in the past, I've spoke about the delegation of power, okay, within the organizations, how the inner circle over the last years of her ownership have allowed both franchises to become bottom feeders in their respective leads.

And then, honestly, she has been an absentee owner, trusting the wrong people to run her franchise and taking that hands-off approach, okay? No matter the motivation of yesterday's speech, No matter the motivation of yesterday's speech at the quarterback club, it could be the embarrassment of sitting next to the NFL commissioner, Roger Goodell, during the dome-coming blowout.

It could be, again, standing there looking at the fans during, again, the Ring of Honor ceremony for Drew Brees last week and the subsequent, again, beating and beat down by the Minnesota Vikings.

Okay? It could be, again, hearing the opposing fans week after week, those fan bases coming in and taking over the Superdome.

Or maybe she is truly fed up with losing, okay? Maybe she truly hears the frustration of the fans.

Makes no difference, honestly.

The owner, who, again, never publicly holds anyone accountable, did so.

Name names, okay? Now the question is, she's drawn the line in the sand.