Office of Motor Vehicles spokeswoman Michelle Rayburn said Saints officials have approved the redesign of the speciality plate in the past two days after rejecting the first design several weeks ago. The approved version, in black and gold, includes the team's signature fleur de lis and the words World Champions incorporated with the Super Bowl XLIV logo across the bottom.
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Now, Rayburn said, her office will order about 15,000 tags through Prison Enterprises, the arm of the prison system that makes the plates.
The tags should be available through local motor vehicle offices in the next four to six weeks as well as on the agency's website, www.expresslane.org, Rayburn said.
The special tag will cost $25 a year over the regular fee for a license plate, which is based on the value of the vehicle. The motor vehicles office also assesses a $3.50 administrative fee for all specialty license tags. Money generated by the $25 fee will go to pay off the debt to finance improvements at the Superdome.
Greg Bensel, Saints vice president of communications, said the team is planning on making an announcement about the tags in the near future."We have too many unanswered questions" to be addressed Friday, Bensel said in an e-mail response to several questions. "We are still trying to line up everything, production and delivery, etc."
Rayburn said that the changes made between the first and second versions of the plate were "minimal."
Rep. Jeff Arnold, D-Algiers, who sponsored the bill at the spring session authorizing the tag, said the first version of the tag had shades of colors that did not suit Saints officials, forcing the redesign.
The second design got it right, he said.
Arnold said during the session that based on the popularity of the Saints, the special license tag would likely dislodge the purple-white-and-gold Louisiana State University "Fightin' Tigers" tag as the best-seller in the state.
Arnold said he had hoped to have the license plates ready for the Saints regular season opening game against the Minnesota Vikings Sept. 9 but the design was still being worked on."It had a lot of layers to go through," Arnold said, including approval by the National Football League.
"I am sure they are going to go like hotcakes," Rayburn said. "We will order a large amount."
She said if the supply is depleted, more can be printed.
The law that creates the tag requires that the first 300 plates "be reserved for purchase at the direction of the New Orleans Saints."
SOURCE: NOLA.COM
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