New Orleans Saints owner Tom Benson said at Tuesday's league meetings that he has received an offer of more than $1 billion for his franchise but insisted he's committed to running the club as usual for the 2005 season before deciding the future of the team. Benson's $1 billion-plus assertion is almost unbelievable in the context of the NFL. That price would be the highest paid for a team in the history of the league ? far more than the record $800 million Daniel Snyder paid to purchase the Washington Redskins in 1999 and nearly double the $625 million Red McCombs stands to receive for his sale of the Minnesota Vikings this week. Benson says his personal attorney, Stanley Rosenberg, received a "written offer" for the amount. Adding to the intrigue, Benson has been locked in a contentious battle with state officials over his team's lease of the Louisiana Superdome. On Tuesday here at the owners' annual spring meetings, he sounded like a man who is more than prepared to use a possible move to the Los Angeles market as a bargaining chip. Though Benson said he wants to stay in New Orleans, he refused to guarantee that he would remain in the city at the end of the upcoming season, when he has a 90-day window to break his lease with the Superdome for an $81 million penalty. Asked if he would consider a move to Los Angeles at that time, Benson said, "You consider everything. "I don't want to leave New Orleans, and the people don't want us to leave New Orleans ? the majority of them, anyway," Benson said. "Unfortunately, we've got a lot of people who watch television that maybe can't afford to buy tickets. Maybe we can work that out, you know?"