BATON ROUGE, La. (KPEL News) — Todd Graves has chicken fingers. He has billions. And now he’s saying he might want a football team, too — specifically, maybe the New Orleans Saints.

Graves made the comments during Super Bowl week while talking to TMZ Sports, and he didn’t exactly shut the door on the idea.

“For me, I love football,” Graves said. “I love the fanfare of it. I love the fact that coaches and teams have to put together this amazing play-calling, amazing teams, the athletes are incredible, so I love all that. It’s all about success and working hard and doing great and giving it all to the fans.”

What Graves Actually Said About the Saints

The reporter pushed further, asking whether Graves — a Baton Rouge resident — could picture a day where his love of football and his business empire converge to make him an NFL owner.

“Maybe, someday that makes sense for me, right?” Graves said. “So maybe someday down the line, it might.”

Kirk Herbstreit and Ben join Todd Graves and Cane III at Raising Cane’s in Austin Ahead of College GameDay for Texas-Georgia

Getty Images for Raising Cane’s

Then came the Saints angle. The interviewer brought up Graves’ friendship with Gayle Benson, who owns both the Saints and the Pelicans.

“Gayle’s amazing,” Graves said. “You know, someday, if Gayle were to ever be like, ‘Hey —’ you know, Gayle’s going to live forever. She’s just in great shape and all of that. She’s a really sharp lady. I really respect her. We’re good friends. I just really respect her. I learn from her. She’s an incredible businesswoman, and even more, she’s just great in the community.”

He added: “She gives everything back, but you know, maybe someday, if she’s like, ‘Here are the reins,’ who knows?”

When the reporter told Graves he might “have an in,” the billionaire laughed.

“I might have an in, you know? But you never know.”

What Saints Fans Need to Know Right Now

Before anyone starts printing “Graves’s Saints” T-shirts, pump the brakes.

Benson, 79, told The Times-Picayune in November 2025 that neither the Saints nor the Pelicans are for sale. Nothing has changed since then.

Graves wasn’t claiming a deal is in the works. He was answering a hypothetical with good humor — the kind of answer that keeps a door open without walking through it.

New Orleans Saints v Atlanta Falcons

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Still, the conversation isn’t nothing. Graves is worth $22 billion, per Forbes, which makes him Louisiana’s wealthiest person and the richest restaurateur in America. NFL franchises sell for billions — the Washington Commanders went for $6.05 billion in 2023 — and Graves has the money to compete.

He co-founded Raising Cane’s in 1996 near the LSU campus and built it into the third-largest quick-serve chicken chain in the country, behind only Chick-fil-A and Popeyes. The company cleared $5.1 billion in revenue in 2024, and 2025 figures are expected to top that.

Could Graves Actually Buy an NFL Team?

Money alone doesn’t get you into the NFL ownership club. The league’s approval process is long, and existing owners vote on any new member. But Graves has what they typically look for: deep Louisiana roots, a squeaky-clean public image, and a story that goes from sleeping on a friend’s couch to running a $22 billion empire.

He’s done plenty outside the restaurant world too. Graves sat on the Super Bowl LIX host committee when New Orleans held the game in February 2025. He took over as chair of the University of Missouri Board of Curators. And Raising Cane’s has given more than $165 million to community causes over the years — the kind of track record that matters when 32 billionaires are deciding whether to let you join their group.

For now, it’s all hypothetical. Benson isn’t selling, and Graves isn’t campaigning. But for Saints fans who’ve spent years wondering what the franchise looks like after Benson, it’s worth knowing that one of Louisiana’s own, the guy who built an empire on a single menu item, has already thought about it.

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Gallery Credit: Bernadette Lee