The Louisiana Stadium and Exposition District board voted Wednesday to give its chairperson the authority to sign a new lease for the Caesars Superdome with the New Orleans Saints, a procedural step that may set the stage for the landmark agreement more than 18 months in the making.

The Superdome lease itself has been ready for days, negotiators say. It runs for 10 years and gives the Saints the option to extend every five years through 2055, a deal meant to secure the team’s future in New Orleans for a generation. But as of midweek, nothing has been signed because of a sticking point familiar to anyone who has tracked the team’s history with the state: real estate.

The two sides have been deadlocked over how to handle leases for Benson Tower, Champions Square and the Saints’ pract

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