| Former Saint Kevin Houser Talks About Being Cut From the Team |
Former Saints player Kevin Houser said Thursday that he was surprised and unprepared for the call that came Monday from Coach Sean Payton telling him that he was being released from the team and replaced.
Houser said Payton was businesslike and did not discuss a film studio investment controversy that has affected more than two dozen current and former Saints players and coaches who could lose nearly $2 million.
Interrupting a family vacation in Niagara Falls, Houser flew back to New Orleans on Thursday to explain how he and others got involved in a financial deal with Louisiana Film Studios in Elmwood. Although he championed the studio tax credit program, its failure was the fault of studio executives who did not live up to their end of the deal, Houser said.
"If anything, I feel like I was an ambassador for the state," Houser said. "We were going to bring a bunch more money into the locker room by utilizing a program that was helping the state, that was helping generate jobs."
Payton, quarterback Drew Brees and former quarterback Archie Manning were among those who followed Houser's lead in giving money to the studio with the expectation of receiving state income tax credits in return. The state tax credits program has nurtured many movie and studio projects that have helped turn Louisiana into a thriving location for the film industry, but the Elmwood project has failed to qualify for the credits.
Houser has hired an attorney to assist in recovering the money and has been weighing whether to file a lawsuit. Archie Manning said he received a call from an FBI agent seeking information about the film studio's financial deals.
U.S. Attorney Jim Letten and the regional office of the FBI did not confirm or deny an investigation, their normal response when asked whether they are pursuing a case.
Houser is a specialty player handling long snaps for punts and field goals. When Payton called, at a time both men were on vacation, Houser was not told that the tax credit controversy or any potential ill feelings among his teammates played a role in his dismissal.
"Was I prepared for it? No. Was it heart-wrenching? Yes. Did I lock myself in the bathroom and cry like a baby? Sure," Houser said.
"But, that being said, listen, it's a business world. We're . . . put out there to win a championship, " Houser said. "And if . . . maybe this could have caused a rift, and if there are any underlying issues out there that people didn't come out and say to me, or that people did not have all the answers to the questions that they had for one reason or another . . . listen, I understand."
Studio chief executive Wayne Read said he is lining up investors who will help upgrade the studio and repay the players and others who invested or did construction work for the project.
Houser said he previously used the state tax credits program supporting the film industry without any problems.
Last year, he met Read through a mutual acquaintance. Read explained the plans for converting an old Winn-Dixie warehouse into a motion picture complex. Houser said he turned down Read's invitation to become an investment partner, but he expressed interest in buying tax credits from the studio.
Motion picture productions and studio projects can earn Louisiana tax credits according to how much money they spend. The credits are converted into a financing mechanism for making movies. They can be sold at a discount for cash to any individual or business that wants to reduce their state tax liabilities. For the Elmwood project, the purchasers expected to get about $1.33 worth of tax credits for every $1 they gave.
But the studio project never submitted a final application for the credits and appears to have fallen short on requirements to earn them. Read said the Saints members were not buying tax credits but were risking an investment in the studio that could result in a payoff in the form of tax credits.
The rest of the article from Robert Travis Scott and Mike Triplett is here...
A list of the Saints and others effected is here...
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